A former colleague of a prison officer who was jailed after having sex with an inmate has spoken about the suspicions they had during shifts.
Back in January, Linda De Sousa Abreu was sentenced to 15 months after being identified in a viral video.
The married woman was filmed with the inmate between 26 and 28 June 2024, with the court told that there was also a recording of her performing a sex act on him found on her prison-issue body-worn camera.
An OnlyFans creator, she was, however, freed from prison after five months, with her husband saying she was focusing on staying out of trouble.
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The Crown Prosecution Service called her acts a ‘shocking breach of the public’s trust’ as the judge said it would ‘impact on the reputation of the prison service’.
And in an upcoming BBC documentary, investigative reporter Mobeen Azhar looked into De Sousa Abreu’s case as part of an investigation into the liaisons between prison officers and inmates.
In Behind Bars: Sex, Bribes and Murder, Azhar goes to HMP Wandsworth, where she had worked, and meets one of her former colleagues.
He explains that before the video, other officers had told him that something ‘was going on that wasn’t right’.
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“They told me that they noticed her going into the cells and the staff thought there was something fishy,” her former colleague says. “The kind of attitude she had while on duty was a bit suspicious.”
He went on to explain that things like that can be a ‘starting point for blackmail because prisoners try to corrupt’ the officers.
“One prisoner offered me £1,000 for a KFC but I wasn’t tempted,” he explains.
“They can start with maybe a KFC or a McDonalds, and then once you do something for them, you are in their net and they can blackmail you.”
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He adds that this then leads to ‘intimidation’ tactics as they claim to know officers’ personal details, leading them ‘deeper and deeper into it’.
Before going to court, De Sousa Abreu posted an Instagram video to shut down claims.
“I hope you can appreciate this is going to be a very awkward and uncomfortable conversation for me to have... I just thought I really needed to come on here and clarify a lot of things,” she said.
“First thing being, there has been a lot, a tremendous amount of fake profiles of me that have been monetising off my misfortune, this scandal that the entire world has somehow managed to be involved in.
“I have not monetised one f**king bit. At all. This is my only social media platform and I only just activated it again.”
Topics: Crime, Documentaries
Jess Battison