A prison officer at The Mount near Hemel Hempstead has appeared in court after sharing a “prolific” number of texts and phone calls with an inmate.
After her arrest. Dawn MacCormack, 42, of Organ Hall Road, Borehamwood, allegedly told a friend she “just had human emotions and feelings” for Josh Moore who was serving an eight-year sentence.
When the police examined her phone, they found two images of the prisoner. One was with his torso exposed and the other was him in a T-Shirt, a jury at St Albans Crown Court was told today (Tuesday, July 16).
Opening the case, prosecutor Mark Seymour said: “She was banned by the terms of her contract not to have a social relationship with a prisoner.”
He said Moore had access to two illicit phones inside the prison in 2019; in August 2020, Moore, then 28, had pleaded guilty to having them.
MacCormack denies misconduct in a public officer between January 1, 2019, and June 22, 2019, by failing to disclose that Moore had a mobile phone.
She also denies two charges of unauthorised transmission of either calls or texts between May 15, 2019, and June 8, 2019, relating to the first phone, and again between June 16, 2019, and June 20, 2019, involving the second.
The prosecutor said the two phones were recovered from Moore’s cell in Nash Wing on different days in June 2019.
On the first phone, there was “prolific” contact with 85 calls and 4,100 texts in 25 days.
“They spanned every single day and were distributed for all hours of the day,” he said.
After the first phone was discovered, Moore got hold of a second mobile. In a period of less than 48 hours, there were seven calls and 272 texts at all hours of the day.
MacCormack was arrested on June 22, 2019. The texts on her phone had been deleted.
But Mr Seymour said two images of Moore were found in the memory of her phone.
In a prepared statement, she told the police: “At no point have I acted in a manner that would display misconduct in a public office.”
MacCormack resigned as a prison officer on June 24.
The jury was told that in November 2019, she sent a message to a friend saying: “I am only human. It boils down to human feelings. I just had human emotions and feelings.”
The prosecutor said: “The defendant’s behaviour was inappropriate. It involved a breach of her duties as a prison officer. Communication by mobile phone with an inmate is a serious offence in its own right. She failed to disclose he was in possession of illicit mobile phone. It was frankly her job to do that. The phone contact was not just the odd call or text it was genuinely prolific. She acted inappropriately with Mr Moore.”
0 Comments