Psychologist jailed over relationship with inmate

A psychologist at a young offender institution (YOI) engaged in sexual activity with an inmate and smuggled in prohibited items, a court has been told.

Amber Gayle, 32, struck up an intimate relationship with Rickcarlo Williams, 24, while she was working at HMP Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield.

Concerns about her behaviour were raised in 2024 and an investigation uncovered hundreds of messages between the pair, including explicit images, Staffordshire Police said.

Gayle, of Great Barr, Birmingham, has been jailed for two years and four months after admitting misconduct in public office, unauthorised access to data and conspiracy to convey a prohibited article into a prison.

During Wednesday's hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, Williams was handed a further prison term of one year and two months to run consecutively to his current sentence.

He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to convey a prohibited item into a prison and possession of a specified item in a prison without authority.

Investigators found Williams had been in contact with Gayle in order to bring prohibited items into the institution.

Messages on a mobile phone uncovered an "intimate relationship" between the pair, police said.

The investigation also discovered Snapchat messages that revealed Williams and Gayle had "carried out sexual activity" within the grounds of the YOI, the force's spokesperson added.

Alongside their prison terms, Gayle and Williams were ordered to forfeit a number of mobile phones and cash.

Det Supt Ross Jones, of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said there was a "significant amount of communication" between the pair over a prolonged period.

"Gayle clearly used her position of authority to operate below the radar and get illicit mobile phones into the institution, as well as embark on an inappropriate relationship with Williams," he said.

"Williams consistently arranged parcels to be delivered to Gayle, as well as facilitated their distribution within the YOI."

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.