A prison guard filmed having sex with an inmate has been sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, 31, was on duty at HMP Wandsworth in London when she entered the prisoner’s cell and had sex with him on June 25.
The encounter was filmed by another inmate and lasted nearly five minutes.
She was identified by staff at HMP Wandsworth and arrested by the Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Airport on June 28, after the images went viral on social media the day before.
The mother-of-one was planning to fly to Madrid and phoned the prison as she fled to the airport to say she would not return to work.
De Sousa Abreu puis pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office on July 29 last year.
Sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, Judge Martin Edmunds KC said the former officer “knew the conduct was prohibited, and prohibited for good reasons”, and that the offense and the harm caused “was extremely serious”.
He added: “You engaged in sexual activity with a prisoner. This compromised your role as an officer and constitutes misconduct that undermines discipline within the prison and places your colleagues at increased risk.
Linda De Sousa Abreu was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being filmed having sex with an inmate.
Photo: Metropolitan Police/PA
The court heard De Sousa Abreu had a history of poor mental health and trauma, and had consented to sexual activity with the prisoner on the day of the incident.
She was also told that she had agreed to a second prisoner – who then sent the video to a friend, who posted the video online – to be present and film the activity while appearing to smoke cannabis.
The judge said she “participated with obvious enthusiasm” but did not consent to the recording being published online.
De Sousa Abreu also asked the judge to consider two other offenses – one being sexual activity with the prisoner earlier in the day, and the other being a separate sexual relationship with the prisoner at least three to four days from now following the main offense.
De Sousa Abreu pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office last year. File photo: PA
Prison staff ‘victim of abuse’ after video
Judge Edmunds then said that “whether you like it or not, the fact is that the video went viral and caused a lot of harm” to female officers at HMP Wandsworth.
He noted that some police officers said that after the recording they were “subjected to abuse and harassment by prisoners”, as well as sexual approaches and were considered “fair game”.
Other officers said their children were teased at school about what their mothers might do at work after the video surfaced.
“It is inevitable that the damage for which you were responsible at Wandsworth has spread, to some extent, throughout the prison,” the judge added.
De Sousa Abreu was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was told she would serve half of her sentence in custody and the rest on licence.
She also received a 95-day discount after it was revealed she had been wearing an electronic tag for 190 days.
Read more on Sky News:
22-year-old tourist killed while bathing elephant in Thailand
Six-month-old girl killed in parking incident
A Prison Service spokesperson said after the sentencing: “While the overwhelming majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest, we are catching more of the small minority who break the rules by strengthening our enforcement unit. corruption and strengthening our control processes.
“As today’s sentencing demonstrates, when officers fail to meet our high standards, we will not hesitate to take strong action.”
Tetteh Turkson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, also said last year that the incident was “a shocking abuse of public trust” and that De Sousa Abreu “was clearly an enthusiastic participant who wrongly believed she would avoid any liability.
