Prison governor denies relationship with drug boss 'Jesse Pinkman' after flip flops carrying his DNA found in her flat

3 April 2025, 16:39

A prison governor has denied engaging in a relationship with a drug boss inmate known as “Jesse Pinkman” after a pair of Hugo Boss flip flops and a toothbrush carrying his DNA were found in her flat.

Kerri Pegg, 42, also denied accepting a £12,000 Mercedes from Pinkman, real name Anthony Saunderson.

Pegg, who was seen as a “rising star” in the Prison Service, granted the drug boss a temporary early release from HMP Kirkham, where she was a governor, Preston Crown Court heard.

Described in court as “blonde and bubbly”, Pegg is accused of not “playing by the rules” by beginning a relationship with Saunderson, known in the criminal underworld as “Jesse Pinkman”, the meth-dealing character from TV’s Breaking Bad.

Showing the jury the pair of size 10 flip flops found in Pegg’s apartment, Barbara Louise-Webster, prosecuting, said Saunderson had been visiting the flat during his temporary release.

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“A number of times, because you were having a relationship?” Ms Webster added.

“No,” Pegg replied.

Ms Webster continued: “That’s the reason there’s a toothbrush with his DNA on it, in your flat.

“You accept the Hugo Boss flip flops found in your flat had his DNA and your DNA?”

“Yes,” Pegg replied.

“What size are you?” Ms Webster said.

“Me, I’m size four,” Pegg replied.

It is alleged that, along with having a relationship with the drug boss, Pegg lived beyond her means, getting into debt with three County Court Judgments (CCJs) against her, which she was duty-bound to declare but did not.

A tearful Pegg denied all allegations against her as she told the court she had been “incredibly stupid but did not think she had done anything wrong.”

Saunderson was handed a 10-year jail term in November 2014 for drugs conspiracy and money laundering.

He arrived at HMP Kirkham in 2017. Soon after, Pegg became governor there.

She is accused of breaking prison rules by signing off on his temporary release for time out of custody, without proper authority.

Saunderson served his sentence and was released in May 2019.

But soon after, he became embroiled in another conspiracy to supply drugs, later identified as the boss of a drug gang and went by the name of Jesse Pinkman on the Encrochat encrypted mobile phone network, used by organised crime gangs.

At the same time, in July 2019, the court heard newly-released Saunderson was contracted by some prisons to run a project, titled Breaking Alcohol and Drug Dependency.

Pegg, at the time the regional official co-ordinating drug strategy in six prisons in the North West of England and “passionate” about the BADD project, thought of Saunderson not as an ex-inmate but a “colleague” and she said this explained her contact with him as he was working on the project.

Later, when police cracked the Encrochat system, it revealed Saunderson’s drug dealing and his alleged relationship with Pegg.

Pegg denies two counts of misconduct in a public office, one by having a relationship with Saunderson and the second by failing to disclose county court judgments about her debts.

She also denies one count of possessing criminal property, the Mercedes car, from Saunderson.

The trial was adjourned until Friday morning.