Sandwell prison officer jailed after relationship with inmate is exposed
A prison officer from Sandwell who had a relationship with an inmate in a Staffordshire prison has been jailed for 12 months.
Katie Loxton, aged 27, was a serving prison custody officer at HMP Oakwood in Featherstone when she first came into contact with inmate Adam Higgs, 32, from Grantham in Lincolnshire.
Loxton would spend a large portion of her time on the block which Higgs was housed, raising the concerns of a number of officers working there at the time.
When asked about it by staff, Loxton denied any wrongdoing with Higgs.
After carrying out checks, it soon become apparent that Loxton and Higgs had bypassed the security system inside the prison and were communicating with one another through a fake contact which they had set up through a telephone Higgs was hiding in his cell.
Between July 7, 2021, and January 13, 2022, Higgs made a total of 3,451 calls to this fake contact. He spoke with Loxton for more than 380 hours and spent £798 making the calls over this period.
Higgs also managed to hide a mobile phone which he used to communicate with Loxton through social media, with the pair often performing sexual acts to each other over the phone.
Following the discovery, police arrested Loxton and searched her home on January 27, 2022. Three handwritten letters from Higgs were found inside. Higgs was interviewed about the findings in prison in March 2022.
The pair later admitted to the offences in court and were sentenced to a combined term of 20 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday.
Loxton was jailed for 12 months for misconduct in a public office and without authority transmitting or causing the transmission of an image/sound by electronic means from within a prison.
Higgs was handed an eight-month sentence for possessing inside a prison a device capable of transmitting or receiving images, sounds or information by electronic communications and without authority transmitting or causing the transmission of an image/sound by electronic means from within a prison.
Detective Constable Adam McHugh, who dealt with the case, said: “Loxton and Higgs were able to manipulate the security measures of the prison telephony system to hide their relationship from officers and inmates.
“We are committed to upholding the values and conduct the public expected of Public Office workers. I’m happy that Loxton recognised her conduct had fallen short of the expected standard.”
