Jordan Parkinson secures a suspended sentence for defendant charged with misconduct in a public office and conveying a list A article into prison.

The defendant pleaded guilty at the PTPH to misconduct in a public office and conveying a list A article into prison, namely codeine. Between April and November 2022, the defendant was employed as a maths teacher at HMP Holme House and was having a relationship with a serving prisoner. Love letters were recovered from the prisoner’s cell that matched a notebook found in the defendant’s home address. The police investigation confirmed 7 calls between the prisoner and the defendant indicating a sexual relationship.

During interview, the defendant accepted being in a relationship with the prisoner and that they had kissed on two occasions and met during one of the classes the defendant was teaching. The defendant also admitted bringing codeine into prison on one occasion after being asked by the prisoner as he stated he was in substantial pain, and she felt uncomfortable saying no.

The court were referred to R v Hibbs [2022] EWCA Crim 1927 by the prosecution, a similar case where the defendant was in a relationship with a prisoner but was also not a prison officer but a nurse and thus both defendants were not employed in a custodial role. The Recorder of Liverpool, His Honour Judge Menary KC, expressed in Hibbs that “save in exceptional cases, an offence such as this will result in a sentence of immediate custody, even for a defendant who is of good character and where, as here, the illegitimate conduct did not last for very long”.

Jordan Parkinson was successful in inviting the court to suspend any sentence subject to the imposition guidelines, in that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and strong personal mitigation. It was advanced on the defendant’s behalf that this was an exceptional case, in which the psychiatric report and pre-sentence report confirmed the defendants’ actions do not appear to derive from a wilful and purposeful intent to breach their position of trust, but instead are linked to their vulnerable state, which led to manipulation and grooming by the prisoner. It was submitted that the defendant imminently needed the continuing support via their mental health treatment plan in the community and that a mental health treatment requirement was not even explored by Probation as the defendants needs surpass the remit of their intervention.

If you would like to instruct Jordan, please contact the Criminal clerks here.