Parole officer fired after having secret baby with ex-convict

A PAROLE officer was sacked 10 years after having a secret baby with a former prisoner.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began a sexual relationship with him while he attended a bail hostel she ran.

She was only caught after contacting the now married ex-prisoner on Facebook to reveal he was her child’s father.

He complained to the Probation Service, which led to two disciplinary procedures and the woman, who worked for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Trust as a supervising officer, was sacked in 2016.

The woman – only named as “A” – took the Secretary of State for Justice to an employment tribunal, claiming she had been unfairly dismissed and the decision to sack her had been based on false information.

But an employment judge ruled she was not unfairly dismissed because she had been sacked for “having an inappropriate relationship with an ex-prisoner”.

The pair began a sexual relationship at a bail hostel she was running between July and November 2005.

She had a baby in December 2006 but they had broken their relationship off earlier that year.

The former probation worker used a fake Facebook account in 2013 to tell her former lover he was the father.

An initial disciplinary hearing in 2013 found she had “not conducted herself with integrity and honesty”.

But she was cleared of any misconduct. Facebook account. A second disciplinary hearing then took place in February 2016, where she faced an allegation of having an inappropriate relationship with an ex-prisoner.

She was also accused of lying about the Facebook account in her first hearing in 2013.

The woman was dismissed from the Probation Service after the allegations were proven.

She then sued for unfair dismissal, claiming the process was unjust.

In his rulin, employment Judge David Moore said: “The other charge which related to a specific rule pertaining to relationships between probation officers and offenders or ex-offenders in approved premises cannot be regarded as a trivial matter.

“I accept the submission that rules of this kind are quintessential to the effective running of this type of establishment and operate to protect both staff and residents.

“It is a disciplinary offence that was aggravated by concealment and dishonesty and I am satisfied that dismissal in respect of this charge fell within the band of reasonable responses.”