Female prison officer sent ‘prolific’ texts to prisoner using smuggled phones

A female prison officer at The Mount, Hemel Hempstead, allegedly shared a ‘prolific’ numbers of texts and phone calls with an inmate.

After her arrest Dawn MacCormack, 42, allegedly told a friend she ‘just had human emotions and feelings’ for inmate Josh Moore, who was serving an 8-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.

Opening the case, prosecutor Mark Seymour said: ‘She was banned by the terms of her contract from having a social relationship with a prisoner.’

He said Josh Moore had access to two illicit phones inside the prison in 2019 and in August 2020 Moore, then 28 , had pleaded guilty to having them.

MacCormack of Organ Hall Road, Borehamwood, has denied misconduct as 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 Josh Moore’s cell in Nash Wing on different days in June 2019.

On the first phone in 25 days there was ‘prolific’ contact with 85 calls and 4,100 texts.

He said: ‘They spanned every single day and were distributed for all hours of the day.’

After the first phone was discovered Moore got hold of a second mobile. In a period of less than 48 hours there were 7 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 Josh Moore were found in the memory of her phone. One had his torso exposed and the other was him in a t-shirt.

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 days after her arrest.

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.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.