Married prison officer jailed for 15 months after being filmed having sex with inmate
6 January 2025, 17:13 | Updated: 6 January 2025, 18:00
A prison officer has been jailed for 15 months after being filmed having sex with an inmate in a cell at HMP Wandsworth.
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Linda De Sousa Abreu, 31, has been jailed for 15 months for misconduct in a public office after having intercourse with burglar Linton Weirich in his cell.
The former prison officer and OnlyFans model was told she will serve half in custody, and half on license, during the sentencing hearing on Monday.
Isleworth Crown Court heard of the severe impact the scandal has had on Ms Abreu’s colleagues, particularly female staff members.
In a statement, governor Andy Davy said prisoners are “now openly coming on to female staff, and they’re seen as fair game”.
He described how staff members’ children were reporting being teased at school because their mothers worked at Wandsworth, and said staff were “talking of resigning because they felt embarrassed”.
Mr Davy said female prison officers had previously had a positive impact on male inmates, and “it has taken many years for female staff to be accepted and treated professionally” in the male dominated environment.
In the statement, read by prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC, the conduct of Ms Abreu was said to have “undone years of positive actions”, with staff “heckled and harassed” when they leave work.
He said professional counselling had been sought to rebuild trust amongst female prison staff, at a cost to the taxpayer.
Ms Abreu, who is a married mother-of-one, attempted to flee to Madrid after the video of her having sex with burglar Linton Weirich went viral, and was arrested in departures.
Filming at close range, his cellmate can be heard saying “this is how we live at Wandsworth”, whilst talking can be heard from Ms Abreu’s two-way prison issue radio.
In her initial police statement, Ms Abreu claimed she was acting under duress, and was “terrified for my own safety” after being “ushered in to the cell” by the two prisoners.
Prosecutor Elouise Marshall KC said her actions shown in the video, and her guilty plea, showed that account was “entirely false”.
Ms Abreu also claimed her colleagues complained “so many times” about working conditions at the jail, but the court heard that checks showed she had never formally raised an issue.
Judge Martin Edmunds KC noted the well-documented ills of Wandsworth Prison, and said Ms Abreu had “made things worse, not better”.He said Ms Abreu had “participated with evident enthusiasm” in the intercourse, but acknowledged her behaviour was partially driven by her Borderline Personality Disorder.
Sentencing her to 15 months, for which she will serve half in prison, the judge told Ms Abreu “your conduct and the harm caused was immensely serious”, but accepted she felt remorse, saying “you feel deeply the shame and distress you have brought on your husband and family”.
