A prison guard and a violent armed burglar have pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship in one of the UK’s largest prisons.
Alicia Novas, 19, and Declan Winkless, 30, both admitted committing misconduct in public office over four-month period at HMP Five Wells last year.
Their fling is reported to have first been exposed when a video of Winkless having sex with Novas at the privately run jail began to circulate last year.
The prison officer entered ‘into a sexual relationship’ with Winkless, provided him with her telephone number and smuggled cannabis and a mobile phone into the Category C prison, a court heard.
She also failed to report his possession of a phone and cannabis.
Novas pleaded guilty to six charges and Winkless to seven charges during a brief hearing today at Northampton Crown Court.
Winkless encouraged and assisted both offences of misconduct in public office committed by Novas, which ‘amounted to an abuse of public trust’.
They also admitted unauthorized electronic communication from inside to outside the prison, while Winkless admitted a further charge of unauthorised possession of a mobile phone.
The court heard that the pair committed misconduct in public office between August and December last year.
At the time, Novas is understood to have been working as a custodial officer at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, which is one of the UK’s largest prisons and run by private firm G4S.
The disgraced officer, who was on bail and walked into the dock wearing a black outfit and glasses while carrying a large bag, was told she would be remanded in custody until sentencing on January 5.
The prosecutor did not open the facts against the defendants during the short hearing.
Relatives of Novas, of Raunds, Northamptonshire, sobbed in the public gallery as she was led from the dock into custody.
Winkless appeared for the hearing via videolink from HMP Swaleside, where he is currently being held.
He is serving an 11-year sentence after being jailed in 2021 for being part of a vicious gang of armed burglars who raided a series of properties in Leicestershire.
His gang burgled six homes which saw them hold the occupants captive. The victims included a pregnant woman and her three-year-old child – who was struck across the face in front of his parents to reinforce the raiders’ demands for money.
In another raid, a 63-year-old woman was dragged from her bed and suffered a heart attack, whilst another elderly woman was hit so hard it broke her eye socket, according to Leicestershire Live.
Passing sentence at the time, Recorder Jason MacAdam said Winkless played a part in ‘most, if not all’ burglaries, which he described as involving ‘unnecessary violence and extreme ransacking on a grand scale’.
‘None of (the victims) will ever feel safe in their homes again, and many are in the process of moving – and one victim never returned home and sleeps in his car,’ he said.
Following Novas and Winkless’s guilty pleas today, the court heard that a psychiatric report detailing ‘diagnosis of emotional, unstable personality disorder traits’ would be presented in mitigation for the prison officer.
Judge Rebecca Crane told her: ‘Ms Novas, you are now remanded in custody. You will be brought to court for the day of the sentencing hearing.’
