A married prison librarian whose underpants were paraded around a jail wing ‘like a trophy’ after a sexual relationship with an inmate has been spared jail.
Mum-of-two Sharon Mawdsley, 47, from Blackpool, shared steamy text messages and had sex with Steven Morrell in the library office at HMP Kirkham.
Their two-week affair came to an end after staff member Sarah Fleming heard whispers among prison inmates and reported her concerns.
Mawdsley’s underwear was allegedly shown to other inmates at Kirkham prison as over 20 prisoners stood outside their cell doors before lock up, a jury was told.
A former prisoner who claimed to have seen this also claimed that Mawdsley had molested him sexually.
He told a court: ‘He [Morrell] took her underwear and when everyone was standing at the doors one evening, he showed them like a trophy.
‘There were over 20 prisoners who saw it.’
Mawdsley was informed on July 6, 2018, that she should not go back to work, and Morrell was sent to a different jail.
After his cell was searched, a secret iPhone was found hidden in a laundry bag, along with a piece of paper with Mawdsley’s personal phone number scrawled on it.
Three days later, she admitted giving Morrell her phone number and engaging in ‘unlawful conversations and text messages’.
She was aware that he had a phone, but she chose not to alert the jail staff.
Mawdsley pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office in connection with the phone contact with Morrell in January 2024.
However, she only acknowledged having sex with Morrell when questioned about claims that she had sexually assaulted two other prisoners in the library.
The prosecutor, Wayne Jackson, stated that Mawdsley worked ten hours a week at HMP Kirkham.
She had been screened for the position and trained in anti-corruption measures.
Alli Black, the Governor of HMP Kirkham, said: ‘Where an inappropriate relationship develops, the authority of that staff member and other members of staff is diminished.’
If professional boundaries were not respected, she added, staff members may be coerced into smuggling narcotics or cell phones into jail.
Anthony Parkinson, defending, said Mawdsley has ‘an impeccable past history – apart from these two weeks of madness in the Summer of 2018’.
In addition, he emphasised that the defendant had experienced a protracted delay and public humiliation as a result of media attention.
Although Mawdsley and her spouse are no longer together, he nonetheless supported his ex-wife in a letter to the court.
Two other prisoners claimed the librarian had abused them in the library following the inquiry.
The mother of two was exonerated of all additional counts after the trial in April.
During that trial, she confessed to having sex with Morrell.
She returned to Preston Crown Court to face a sentence for a single count of misconduct in a public office.
Given the behaviour of people in authority, it’s no surprise that jails are becoming less like prisons and more like retirement communities for illegal behaviour.
Today’s prisons serve as hubs for gang recruitment, criminal training, and networking, and the majority of state-employed law enforcement personnel are either untrustworthy or poorly trained.
A pair of elephantine pants would not pique most men’s interest, but it takes all kinds, and why does a prison need a librarian? Surely a half-educated inmate could arrange books.
This kind of activity is unacceptable, and prisoners would thrive on it as it relieves boredom; therefore, the woman was fortunate to be released.
The sad thing is that these women believe that male prisoners love them, but they need to realise that they’re just being used for sex and whatever else they can get from them, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the prisoners in question now sue for PTSD.
This prisoner who pumped this lady should be released immediately; he’s been punished enough! After all, she is a hefty lady and there would never be a shovel to fill that hole.
These men are behind bars for a reason, because they’ve done wrong, and now so has she. This was an offence, and this woman should have faced jail like others do.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 