Jail for woman prison officer who brought inmate cakes for birthday

A PRISON officer has been jailed for conducting a romantic relationship with an infamous drugs baron serving a 29-year jail sentence at HMP Wakefield.

Millie Kirk sent more than a 1,000 text messages to high-risk inmate John Anslow from a secret “burner phone” during their six-month affair. Kirk, 26, was finally caught out after she smuggled cupcakes into the maximum security jail to give to him for his birthday.

During the affair Kirk travelled to Birmingham to enjoy a night out drinking and taking drugs with the Midlands inmate’s ex-wife. Kirk committed the offending while she was involved in a same-sex relationship with a woman who was abroad serving in the armed forces.

Kirk, from Barnsley, was jailed for eight months at Leeds Crown Court after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office.

George Hazel-Owram, prosecuting, said Kirk and Anslow were involved in a romantic relationship between January and June of last year while she was a serving officer at the maximum security prison.

Anslow – who was once Britain’s most wanted man – is serving a prison sentence of more than 29 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to escape.

The prosecutor said the prison service received information about the affair and began an internal investigation in April last year.

The affair was exposed on Anslow’s birthday, June 22, after she brought two birthday cards and 12 cupcakes into the prison to give to him. The court accepted that the relationship had not become sexual.