Prison officer and inmate admit misconduct over sexual relationship
A prison officer provided her telephone number to an inmate and failed to report his possession of a phone and cannabis
Last updated 1st Dec 2025
A prison officer and an inmate who had a sexual relationship have pleaded guilty to misconduct charges.
Alicia Novas, 19, and 30-year-old Declan Winkless admitted the offences at Northampton Crown Court after she provided her telephone number to the prisoner and failed to report his possession of a phone and cannabis.
Novas, who stood in the dock wearing a black outfit and glasses, and Winkless, who appeared by videolink from HMP Swaleside in Kent, both admitted misconduct in public office between August and December 2024 at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire.
They also both pleaded guilty to a separate charge of misconduct on November 23 last year.
The court heard that Novas, acting as a prison custody officer, "wilfully misconducted" herself "in a way which amounted to an abuse of the public's trust".
Winkless is alleged to have encouraged and assisted both offences.
Both defendants admitted making an unauthorised transmission of an image or sound from within a prison, conveying cannabis into HMP Five Wells, and conveying two mobile phones into the category C prison, near Wellingborough.
They also pleaded guilty to making an unauthorised electronic transmission of an image relating to HMP Peterborough between December 2024 and March this year.
Winkless, formerly of South Wigston, Leicestershire, admitted a seventh charge of possessing a device with a sim card at HMP Five Wells without authority on December 22 last year.
The prosecutor did not open the facts against the defendants during the short hearing on Monday.
Novas and Winkless, who wore a grey T-shirt, both spoke only to confirm their names and enter their pleas.
The 19-year-old, of Raunds, Northamptonshire, had previously been on conditional bail but was remanded into custody after pleading guilty, while a woman sitting in the public gallery cried into a tissue.
The defendants were told they will be sentenced on January 5.