Alicia Novas, a 20-year-old former prison custody officer, has been jailed after having a sexual relationship with an inmate
A former prison officer who had a sexual relationship with an inmate when she was aged 18 has been jailed for three years.
Alicia Novas, 20, and prisoner Declan Winkless, 31, pleaded guilty last month to offences that mainly took place within a four-month period at HMP Five Wells, a Category C Adult Male prison in Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire.
Judge Rebecca Crane today said that two videos of 20-year-old Alicia Novas “having sexual intercourse in her prison uniform” were shared on Snapchat by prisoner Declan Winkless and “ended up in the press”. Winkless, 31, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for his role in the offending, consecutive to his current sentence.
Sentencing at Northampton Crown Court, the judge said Novas, of Raunds, Northamptonshire, gave her personal phone number to Winkless, who is serving a sentence of 11 years and three months for conspiracies to burgle. She said there were nearly 3,000 contacts between the pair during the indictment period, with Winkless using four illicit devices.
Novas previously pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office between August 1, 2024 and December 24, 2024, and Winkless admitted “encouraging and assisting” Novas in this offending. The pair also admitted making an unauthorised transmission of an image or sound from within a prison relating to HMP Peterborough between December 2024 and March this year. They also admitted conveying cannabis into HMP Five Wells and conveying two mobile phones into the category C prison, near Wellingborough.
The judge said the content of messages “demonstrates Winkless indicating he was romantically interested in Ms Novas, offering expensive gifts”.
She said that “by November 16 the relationship became sexual including sexual intercourse”. The judge said that on November 23, 2024 Winkless asked Novas “who the snitch was” and Novas provided the name of a prisoner and told Winkless what prison authorities knew or suspected about his involvement.
“This put the informant at very considerable risk to his personal safety,” the judge said. “It also undermined any prison investigation.” She said Novas was “naive and immature”.
“Given your age and inexperience you were vulnerable to being manipulated,” the judge said. “However, you could easily have reported matters to the prison authorities and sought assistance. You persisted in having contact over a significant period even after your arrest.
“You failed to consider the seriousness of your actions and the potential impact on the security and the safety of staff and prisoners and how it undermined the work of the prison.”
She said that “even an inexperienced and naive prison officer would know that prisoners who are suspected of being informants are often victims of very serious violence”.
Liam Muir, for Novas, said Novas was 18 at the time of the offending and had emotionally unstable personality disorder which was not known at the time. The judge said she accepted Winkless was remorseful.
Both defendants appeared by prison videolink from HMP Peterborough for sentencing on Monday.
Winkless, formerly of South Wigston, Leicestershire, previously admitted a seventh charge of possessing a device with a SIM card at HMP Five Wells without authority on December 22 2024. Novas, of Raunds, Northamptonshire, had been on conditional bail but was remanded into custody after pleading guilty to the charges.
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