Prison guard Rachel Stanton walks free from court after having sex with an inmate and later having their baby

A female prison guard who had sex in a jail storeroom with an armed robber and later had his baby has walked free from court.

Mother-of-five Rachel Stanton, 31, admitted to wilful misconduct in public office after she had a relationship with Edwin Poole while he was serving more than ten years in prison.

Her romance with Poole was uncovered when staff at HMP Five Wells, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, found three intimate photographs and a ‘sexually explicit’ letter in the inmate’s cell.

CCTV footage also recorded the pair going into a prison storeroom for an hour of ‘ intimacy’, Northampton Crown Court heard.

Stanton, of Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, was suspended following the discovery of their relationship in July 2022, and Poole was moved to another prison.

She continued to visit him and the lovers had a child together, but they have since separated.

The defendant wept in the dock as she was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to take part in 20 days of rehabilitation.

Sentencing Stanton on Tuesday, Judge David Herbert KC said: ‘You should have known better. Your offending is so serious it demands a custodial sentence. I have to sentence you for a single offence. In short, you had a relationship with a prisoner. ‘

“There was clear, indisputable evidence between you that was discovered. They found a sexually explicit letter and some intimate images of yourself.

“CCTV footage shows the two of you together and you were in a room privately, together. Some intimacy must have taken place.’

Judge Herbert gave Stanton credit for her guilty plea, saying he was satisfied that the relationship with Poole was ‘entirely consensual’.

He told her: ‘If you can stay out of trouble you have nothing to fear but it will be hanging over your head — work hard at the order.’

Stanton had been working as a trainee G4S security first-line manager at HMP Five Wells in 2022 when she met Poole.

The inmate was jailed for ten-and-a-half years in 2018 after being involved in a four-day spate of violent armed robberies.

The then 27-year-old used a crowbar wrapped in a bin liner to bludgeon shop staff, while Darren Morris, 37, stole cigarettes, alcohol and a till at convenience stores in the West Midlands.

Lee Egan, defending Stanton, said she had not abused her position to smuggle in contraband items or allowed herself to be ‘exploited’.

He added that she was an ‘inexperienced’ officer who had been chosen for a training course that would have seen her in charge of a whole landing of men at the prison.

Dismissing her lack of training, Judge Herbert said: ‘She should have known what the boundaries were. It shouldn’t take training to know she shouldn’t be doing that.’