A female prison officer secretly carried on a six-month relationship with an inmate at a maximum-security jail, sending him sexually explicit selfies via Snapchat, a sentencing hearing was told.
Jade Morris, 37, and Jerome Nunes, 35, exchanged more than 5,000 messages during their intimate relationship, which lasted from July 2022 until January 2023.
Morris was working at HMP Long Lartin, a Category A prison in Worcestershire, while Nunes was serving a 12-year sentence there.
The court heard that prison bosses became suspicious after Nunes attempted to conceal the affair by throwing a mobile phone from his cell window.
Police later recovered thousands of social media messages, along with explicit photographs exchanged by the pair.
Morris, a mother of two from Holmer, Herefordshire, was going through a divorce from her husband, who was serving in the Armed Forces, during the relationship.
She pleaded guilty in March to misconduct in public office and encouraging Nunes to use an illegal mobile phone.
At her sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said Morris had been employed as a prison custody officer at HMP Long Lartin, a Category A prison.
Jade Morris, pictured at a previous court appearance, had a six-month relationship with inmate Jerome Nunes
Jerome Nunes was jailed for 12 years in 2019 for his role in an eight-member gang that distributed £2 million worth of cocaine across South Wales
Morris worked at HMP Long Lartin, a Category A prison in Worcestershire, where drugs linchpin Nunes was serving his 12-year sentence
Nunes was serving a 12-year prison sentence at Long Lartin after being convicted in 2019 of conspiring to supply cocaine, the court heard.
West Midlands Police investigated Morris’s conduct in 2022.
The investigation found that she had been involved in an intimate relationship with Nunes and had used multiple mobile numbers to communicate with him.
On October 25, 2022, officers searched Nunes’s cell. He threw a sock containing a mobile phone out of the window.
The phone was recovered, along with a charger and a phone reader.
Morris was seen speaking with Nunes the following day and called in sick after completing her shift.
Orchard said the investigation showed the pair had communicated through WhatsApp and Snapchat, with more than 5,000 messages recovered.
Much of their contact took place late at night or during the early hours of the morning.
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Police also recovered a letter written by Nunes to Morris that confirmed the two had been in an intimate relationship.
She said it had been ‘implicit’ they had been sharing explicit images.
When officers went to Morris’s home she had refused to give them the PIN for the device and later denied she had been in phone contact with a prisoner at Long Lartin.
In another interview she claimed Nunes’s number had been passed on to her and that she had been ‘intimidated and frightened’ into contacting him.
Nunes of Newport, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to two offences under the Prison Act 1952 for possessing and using an unauthorised mobile phone
Miss Orchard said: ‘There was a very substantial amount of communication between the two using multiple phones and numbers.
‘Attempts were made to keep the contact secret by using fake names and deleting messages.’
Nunes was jailed for 12 years in 2019 for his involvement in an eight-man gang which was responsible for bringing in and distributing £2million of cocaine throughout Newport, South Wales, and the surrounding areas.
Nunes of Newport, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to two offences under the Prison Act 1952 for possessing and using an unauthorised mobile phone.
Holly Sims, defending Morris, a mother of two young children, aged eight and nine, said at the time she had been caring for her father who had died and that she was going through a divorce with her husband.
She said there was no evidence of any physical contact between her and Nunes. She added Morris had also been struggling with her job in the prison and was ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ about her behaviour.
Matthew Bolt, defending Nunes, said he had already been punished in prison for what he had done and that since being released from his sentence, almost two years ago, he had settled in well and had started a small food business.
Judge Peter Carr adjourned sentence until Friday morning and remanded both defendants in custody.
Georgina Davies, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said previously: ‘Prison officers hold positions of significant trust and responsibility.
‘The public are entitled to expect that those working within the prison system will act with integrity and always maintain clear professional boundaries.
‘This case involved a sustained and deliberate breach of that trust. Jade Morris knew that prisoners should not have access to mobile phones yet chose to engage in a prolonged relationship with Nunes, directly facilitating his criminal offending and undermining the security of the prison in which she worked.
‘The Crown Prosecution Service worked closely with the police to build a case which reflected the seriousness of this misconduct, leaving both defendants no option but to plead guilty.
‘We hope this case sends a clear message that those who abuse positions of public trust will be held to account.’