A prison officer had a secret six-month romance with an inmate and sent him sexually explicit selfies over WhatsApp and Snapchat, a court has heard. Jade Morris, 37, and Jerome Nunes, 35, exchanged more than 5,000 messages during their "intimate relationship" between July 2022 and January 2023.
Morris was working at category A prison HMP Long Lartin, where drugs lynchpin Nunes was serving a 12-year sentence at the time. Prison bosses' suspicions were roused after Nunes tried to cover up their fling by hurling a phone out of his cell window.
Investigation uncovers thousands of messages
Police found thousands of social media messages as well as raunchy photos exchanged between the pair. Mum-of-two Morris, of Holmer, Herefordshire, had been going through a divorce with her husband at the time, who was serving in the Armed Forces.
She pleaded guilty in March to misconduct in a public office and to encouraging Nunes to use an illegal phone. At her sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday (October 8), Cathlyn Orchard, prosecuting, said: "Jade Morris was employed as a prison custody officer at HMP Long Lartin, a category A prison.
"Jerome Nunes was a serving prisoner at Long Lartin - he was sentenced in 2019 to 12 years imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cocaine. In 2022 West Midlands Police investigated the conduct of a prison officer, Jade Morris.
"It transpired that she was engaged in an intimate relationship with Nunes using multiple mobile numbers. On October 25, 2022 Nunes' cell was searched and he threw a sock containing a mobile phone out of his cell window. That device was recovered along with a phone charger and a phone reader."
Attempts to conceal contact
Much of the contact had been late at night or in the early hours of the morning. Police also recovered a letter written by Nunes to Morris "which confirmed they had 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.
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."
Background and sentencing
Nunes was jailed for 12 years in 2019 for his involvement in an eight-man gang responsible for bringing in and distributing £2million worth 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 and remanded both defendants in custody.
