Female prison officer, 27, jailed after having phone sex with prison inmate

A female prison officer who had phone sex with an inmate after forming a relationship at the prison where she worked has been jailed for 12 months.

Katie Loxton, 27, met inmate Adam Higgs, 32, when she was working as a custody officer at HMP Oakwood in Staffordshire.

The pair managed to bypass the security measures in the prison phone system so that they could communicate through a fake contact on Higgs’ phone in his cell, talking for hundreds of hours.

Higgs made a total of 3,451 calls to the fake contact number, speaking to Loxton for more than 380 hours, costing him £798 between 7 July 2021 and 13 January 2022.

A court was told the pair were “having sex with each other over the phone”.

Higgs also managed to hide a mobile phone which he used to communicate with Loxton via social media.

Suspicions were raised when Loxton was noticed by other officers spending a lot of time in the block where Higgs was housed.

She was arrested and a search of her home on January 27 last year found three handwritten letters from Higgs.

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Higgs, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, was interviewed about the findings from prison in March 2022 and the pair later admitted their offenses at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Loxton, from Sandwell, has now been jailed for 12 months for misconduct in a public office.

Also admitted transmitting or causing to be transmitted an image/sound by electronic means from within a prison.

Higgs was also sentenced to eight months in prison for possessing within a prison a device capable of transmitting or receiving images, sounds or information by electronic communications.

He also admitted without authority that he transmitted or caused to be transmitted an image/sound by electronic means from within a prison.

Detective Constable Adam McHugh, from Staffordshire Police, said: “Loxton and Higgs managed to manipulate security measures on the prison’s phone system to hide their relationship from officers and prisoners.

“We are committed to upholding the public values ​​and conduct expected of public servants.

“I am happy that Loxton has acknowledged that her conduct did not meet the standard expected.”