By The Standard (UK)
A guard at HMP Wandsworth who was filmed having sex with an inmate inside a prison cell has been jailed for 15 months.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, 31, had sex with serial burglar Linton Weirich while another inmate who was smoking cannabis filmed the encounter.
Isleworth crown court heard Abreu, who was living in Fulham with her husband, had sex three times with Weirich over the course of a few days at the prison, where she was hired as one of the guards.
When footage of one of the encounters went viral online, Abreu ditched her job and attempted to flee the country.
The court heard Abreu had previously appeared on the OnlyFans site, prior to getting a job at the prison.
Judge Martin Edmunds KC, Recorder of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, sentenced a sobbing Abreu to 15 months in prison, saying she was an โenthusiastic participantโ in the sexual encounter.
He said her actions โundermined discipline in the prison and put fellow officers at riskโ.
โYou knew that conduct was forbidden, and forbidden for good reasonโ, said the judge.
โWhether you intended it or not, the fact is the video went viral and caused great harm.โ
Custody image of Linda De Sousa Abreu (MPS)
The judge set out the โutterly corrosiveโ impact of Abreuโs actions on HMP Wandsworth, and the wider prison estate.
โThe presence of female officers in the male prison estate is described as invaluableโ, he said.
โThe consequences of your behaviour becoming known within the prison estate has been female officers being subjected to abuse and harassment from prisoners; female officers have reported being subjected to sexual approaches and reported being seen as โfair gameโ.โ
The court heard Abreu said she โfelt like a gangsterโ in her relationship with Weirich, suggested she โlovedโ him, and โenjoyed the sense of powerโ from her prison guard role.
It is the latest scandal to beset the Category B prison, after a damning audit uncovered evidence of rampant drug taking, lawlessness among inmates, terrible living conditions, and shoddy rehabilitation services.
Wandsworth prison in south London holds the highest number of inmates of foreign nationality among prisons in England and Wales (Lucy North/PA) (PA Archive)
A Wandsworth prison, soldier Daniel Khalife, managed to escape from the jail by tying himself underneath a food delivery truck.
Prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC said Abreuโs activities came to light when prison bosses saw the footage on June 28 last year.
She said the clip begins with Abreu performing oral sex on Weirich while the other prisoner commentates and occasionally turns the camera to show him smoking a joint of cannabis.
They began having full sex, as the camera man says: โGuys, we made history.โ
โThe defendant and Mr Weirich continue to have sexโ, said Ms Marshall, with Abreu at one point says โfuckโ and kissing Weirich.
โHe sits down, she sits on his lap, and they continue to have sex.โ
inda De Sousa Abreu leaves Uxbridge Magistratesโ Court (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)
The prosecutor said the inmate filming said โthis is how we live at Wandsworth, bruvโ and called Weirich a โgangsterโ, and the clip shows Abreu had taken off her radio and left it on a nearby cupboard.
The court heard at one point the sex was halted when they thought they were about to be interrupted, and Abreu briefly hid on a bunk bed.
The footage was shot on a phone which had been smuggled illegally into the prison, it was forwarded by the inmate who shot it to a friend who then posted it on social media.
After her arrest, Abreu, a mother-of-one, claimed the sex had happened โunder duressโ when she said she was lured into the cell, blocked from leaving, and feared she would be attacked or raped if she resisted.
But she later pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office, and now admits that account was not true.
At the start of the sentencing hearing, Abreu asked for two other incidents of sex with Weirich to be taken into account in sentencing โ one earlier the same day, and one on a previous day.
Judge Edmunds said Abreuโs credibility had been shattered by lies she initially told to police, essentially accusing the inmate she had sex with of rape, and it casts doubt on statements she made during mental health and probation service assessments.
Abreu called in to work on the day the clip leaked, saying she was quitting and leaving the country due to a โfamily emergencyโ.
Abreu, who has a Portuguese passport, was arrested at Heathrow airport while attempting to board a plane to Madrid with her father.
HMP Wandsworth Governor Andrew Davy said Abreuโs offender has damaged years of work to integrate female prison guards into the jail.
He said female guards have now had their authority undermined among prisoners, the incident has sown distrust among staff, and led to the children of female guards being teased at school.
In her original statement to police, Abreu claimed officers at Wandsworth were often left alone on floors with inmates, allegedly in breach of protocol.
Rajiv Menon KC, representing Abreu, said she has now accepted that she willingly had sex with Weirich and allowed for it to be filmed.
โShe has taken full responsibility for her actionsโ, he said, before adding that she has also โdescribed conditions she was working in at Wandsworth Prison.โ
He urged the judge to suspend the prison sentence due to Abreuโs โcomplex psychiatric profileโ.
โShe deeply regrets the breach of trustโ, said Mr Menon, adding that an expert doctor had found Abreu has ADHD, a severe personality disorder, and is a โhighly impulsive and reckless person who tends to act without considering the consequencesโ.
He said Abreu has been assessed as a โhighly emotional and damaged individualโ, with trauma in her past, bouts of depression, and self-harm.
โShe was almost intoxicated by the high risk behaviour in which she engaged, and she didnโt consider the consequences of her actions.โ
Judge Edmunds called Abreu โmedia savvyโ, and said that while she may not have intended for the footage to be broadcast online, the โinevitability that being filmed in that way was that the footage was likely to be shared in some way, at least within the prison.โ
Mr Menon, in his mitigation, also argued that the security of the prison had not been compromised by Abreuโs actions, and the damage done had been โembarrassment and humiliationโ of the sex tape going viral online.
โShe should not be punished for the fact that this is a failing prisonโ, he insisted, arguing that the sharing of the video online which caused the โreputational damageโ was not Abreuโs fault.
He added that Abreu claims she was only trying to leave the UK to avoid the media storm over the video, and always intended to return as she has a husband and daughter.
At the time of the incident, Weirich was serving a sentence of more than four years for a ยฃ65,000 burglary at a flat in Kensington, west London in March 2022.
After the guilty plea, Tetteh Turkson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: โThis was a shocking breach of the publicโs trust. De Sousa was clearly an enthusiastic participant who wrongly thought she would avoid responsibility.
โThe CPS recognises there is no excuse for any prison officer who conducts themselves in such a manner, and we will never hesitate to prosecute those who abuse their position of power.
โAfter working closely with the Metropolitan Police to build the strongest possible case, De Sousa had no option but accept she was guilty.โ
