A female prison officer who allowed an inmate to keep a secret mobile phone so they could talk on Snapchat and arrange a date has avoided jail.
Michaela Crawford, 34, fell for prisoner Carl Catleugh at HMP Deerbolt and the pair exchanged messages via the social media app in which they discussed getting together once he’d finished his term inside.
In one message Catleugh told Crawford, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, he had ‘done some shopping’ from his jail cell and had bought her a pair of heels and some perfume which he wanted her to wear on their first date.
Catleugh said: ‘I obviously really like you in case I had not made that clear.
‘I have bought you heels and perfume to wear on that date I am taking you on. I think we could make it work.’
Crawford replied: ‘I know, I want to wear those heels and save that perfume for our first date.’
Crawford, the mother of a 10-year-old boy, has now narrowly escaped custody as a judge told her: ‘You put your romantic interest in a criminal above your job.’
Prosecutor Mahdev Singh Sachdev told Durham Crown Court that Catleugh’s phone was discovered in a search of his cell in August 2024.
Michaela Crawford (pictured), 34, fell for prisoner Carl Catleugh at HMP Deerbolt and the pair exchanged messages via Snapchat in which they discussed getting together once he’d finished his term inside
When it was examined it was found he was exchanging messages with a Snapchat user called ‘Kayla Crawfie.’
This was discovered to be Crawford, with the pair exchanging pictures of each other – for which Catleugh took selfies in his prison cell.
Mr Sachdev said: ‘It is clear the defendant was aware of the consequences of knowing he had a mobile phone and not reporting it. The two of them exchange messages in which she acknowledges she could go to jail if it were discovered.’
Catleugh was dealt with last year for his part in the offending, receiving an eight-month suspended sentence for illegally possessing a mobile phone whilst in the category C jail.
Crawford left the prison service after the phone was discovered and now runs her own business as a beautician.
Chris Baker, mitigating, said: ‘She has left the prison service and has been assessed as at low risk of reoffending.
‘It is clear from her references that she is a person who can command a great deal of respect in the community.
‘The depression and anxiety she had suffered has alleviated to some extent since leaving the prison service.
‘It is right to say that this offending was a breach of trust but it was over a relatively short period of time.’
Crawford wept in the dock as Recorder Mark McKone, KC, said he had to bear in mind that she was the sole carer for her young son and consider the youngster’s welfare when sentencing her.
Crawford admitted misconduct in a public office and was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months
She admitted misconduct in a public office and was given a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.
Recorder McKone said: ‘As a prison officer huge trust is put in you but you allowed a prisoner to keep and use a phone so that you could message each other, exchange photographs and discuss a first date.
‘The messages also discuss losing your job and the possibility of going to jail.
‘Prisoners are not allowed phones because criminals use them to organise crime. Prisoners can fight over phones and exchange them for drugs.
‘Most prison officers are honest people doing a very difficult job, while unfortunately some others are corrupt.
‘There is no evidence of physical contact between you in custody but it is very sad that you put your own romantic interest in a criminal above doing your job properly.’
He said she was ‘hard working and a good mother,’ but added: ‘You put your son at risk with this offending.’
Crawford, who came to court with a packed bag, wiped relieved tears from her eyes after she was told she had escaped jail. She declined to comment after the hearing.
She is the second female warder from Deerbolt to appear before Durham Crown Court this year.
In February Ellis Eyles, 24, was jailed for eight months after a court heard of affectionate text messages and long Facetime calls with convicted murderer Mitchell Ingham, 25.
Ingham was a drug dealing would-be gangster at the age of 15 when he murdered innocent bystander Dominic Doyle, 21, outside a Manchester bar in 2015.
He and Eyles, who was then 21, began a romance while he was serving his life sentence at Deerbolt and she passed on the location of a segregated prisoner he wanted to ‘do in.’
Ingham referred to Eyles as ‘babe’ and in one message she told him ‘I miss you xxx.’
The court heard that Eyles began acting as a go-between for Ingham and his family, passing on messages, including to his mother Diane Ingham, who was jailed alongside him trying to conceal his crime.
In sentencing Eyles, Judge Richard Bennett said he considered passing on the location of the other prisoner to Ingham was the most serious aspect of her offending after she admitted misconduct in public office.
