A besotted prison officer who performed a sex act on a convicted burglar and referred to herself as his ‘queen’ has been jailed for 21 months.

Katie Evans, 26, was locked up after admitting to an ‘intimate’ relationship with inmate Daniel Brownley at HMP Doncaster.

The mother-of-one, from Hatfield, South Yorkshire, boasted to an ex-prison officer that she had performed a sex act on the con.

Phone records revealed she had communicated with Brownley 140 times on a SIM card that had been smuggled into the category B jail, with some calls lasting nearly an hour.

During their phone conversations, Evans called herself ‘your queen’ while talking to Brownlee, who was serving five-a-half-years for burglary, attempted robbery and handling stolen goods.

Evans was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court, where Judge Jeremy Richardson, KC, told her she had ‘betrayed the trust’ placed in her as a prison officer.

He told Evans, who sobbed in the dock: ‘There must be a prison sentence. Corrupt prison officers must be punished. There is no question about that. The public expects punishment for those who betray trust in the way that you did.

‘It is truly a terrible situation for a judge to be passing sentence on a former prison officer, who has been branded a corrupt prison officer, but it must be done.’

Katie Evans, 26, was locked up after admitting to an ‘intimate’ relationship with inmate Daniel Brownley at HMP Doncaster

Evans was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court, where Judge Jeremy Richardson, KC, told her she had ‘betrayed the trust’ placed in her as a prison officer

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Prison officer who called herself ‘the Queen’ after admitting ‘intimate’ relationship with inmate

Evans, who admitted misconduct in a public office, committed the offences between March and November 2020 while working at HMP Doncaster, aged 21.

Phone records revealed she had 39 conversations with Brownley in just one day. She also boasted to an ex-prison officer that she had performed oral sex on him.

Judge Richardson told Evans: ‘It appears a SIM card for a mobile telephone had been smuggled into the prison.

‘You were not involved in that. However, you communicated via telephone to this prisoner on 140 occasions.

‘There were regular conversations. Some of the calls were long. You formed an intimate relationship with this prisoner.

‘You described yourself to him as ‘your queen’. It appears that you indulged in some forms of sexual activity in the prison.

‘It has been described that there was one occasion when you had oral sex with him.’

The court also heard that Evans had boasted about collecting £1,000 in respect of cannabis deals on behalf of Brownley, and shared confidential prison information with him.

Judge Richardson said her behaviour was a ‘serious manifestation’ of corruption that undermined public confidence in the prison system.

Defence barrister Edward Moss told the court that Evans was ‘immature and vulnerable’ at the time of the offences

The judge reduced her sentence from two years to 21 months as an ‘act of mercy’ due to her young daughter

He told her: ‘You were manipulated by a serious criminal to assist him. Your misconduct materially affected the good order and discipline of the prison.

‘You not only had some form of sexual intimacy with the prisoner but you also assisted him in his conduct within the prison in terms of handling money for him and sharing prison information about him, with him.’

Judge Evans added: ‘Whether that was money relating to drugs or it was legitimate is neither here nor there. You are not permitted to handle the money of prisoners. You certainly boasted, whether it was true or not, that £1,000 connected to cannabis was handled by you.

‘You shared information about the prisoner which he had no business to know. You discussed prison arrangements in relation to him and you communicated with him by using a false name in order to camouflage your real identity.’

Defence barrister Edward Moss told the court that Evans was ‘immature and vulnerable’ at the time of the offences. He said she was manipulated by Brownley and ‘ashamed’ of her behaviour.

The judge reduced her sentence from two years to 21 months as an ‘act of mercy’ due to her young daughter.

Judge Richardson said Evans was ‘no doubt filled with remorse’ and told her: ‘You were a prison officer at the time. You were also very young at the time. You were inexperienced and immature. That is, however, no excuse for what you did.’

He added: ‘I appreciate prison will fall hard upon you as a former prison officer.’