Prison nurse jailed after smuggling mobile phone into prison

A prison nurse has been jailed after smuggling a mobile phone into jail and forming an “inappropriate relationship” with an inmate, police have said.

Elizabeth Hutton, 50, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office and taking the phone into jail.

Hutton’s relationship with the prisoner was discovered after his cell at the Doncaster prison was searched and the mobile phone examined, South Yorkshire Police said.

Prison officers found the inmate in possession of the phone shortly after he had spent time with the defendant.

Hutton (pictured), of Kingsley Avenue, Wakefield, worked as an agency nurse at the jail between September 2015 and October 2016 but was suspended following the discovery of the phone.

A police spokesman said: “Evidence of an inappropriate relationship between Hutton and the prisoner was uncovered after the inmate’s cell was searched and a mobile phone was examined.”

Pc Emma Taylorson, from South Yorkshire Police’s prison investigation team, said: “The public quite rightly expect high standards of conduct from those that work within our prison service.

“Hutton’s behaviour was inappropriate and criminal, and I am pleased that she accepted responsibility for her crimes before a court.

“She will now spend time on the other side of jail bars as a consequence for abusing her position of responsibility.”

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