A former prison officer has been sentenced for misconduct in public office after beginning a sexual relationship with a convicted rapist and attempting to smuggle a syringe into prison. Cherrie-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, worked at HMP The Verne in Dorset when she started an affair with inmate Bradley Trengrove.
The relationship began in summer 2022 when Trengrove handed Austin-Saddington a magazine containing a slip of paper with his secret mobile phone number. Instead of reporting it, she kept the number and eventually began texting him. The affair escalated, and in May 2023 she was caught trying to smuggle a Calpol syringe to Trengrove, which he wanted her to use to inseminate herself with his sperm.
Austin-Saddington was arrested and pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office. In February 2024, nine months after the relationship ended, she suffered a spinal stroke that left her paralysed from the chest down. The judge suspended her two-year sentence due to her medical condition.
Speaking from her wheelchair at her home in Weymouth, Austin-Saddington said: 'I know I didn't get prison time, but I am locked inside my body for the rest of my life.' She is one of at least 10 female prison officers convicted in the past year for similar offences, highlighting a systemic problem within the Prison Service.
Ministry of Justice figures show 64 staff were recommended for dismissal for inappropriate relationships with prisoners between 2019 and 2024, though the true number is likely higher. Cases include Linda de Sousa Abreu, who was sentenced to 15 months after a video of her having sex with an inmate went viral, and Kerri Pegg, a former governor sentenced to nine years for a relationship with a drug trafficker.
