London, June 02: A British female prison officer has been suspended over allegations that she had an affair with a murderer at the prison where she works.
The officer faces accusations of having slept with Leigh Thornhill, who is jailed at Wakefield Prison for killing a mother-of-two and violently attacking another woman on a single night.
The 27-year-old ex-soldier was found guilty of killing 38-year-old Corinne Bailey with a piece of wood on August 16, 2003. Bailey’s body was discovered near Thornhill’s home with 68 separate injuries to her head, torso and limbs.
Officials at the prison in West Yorkshire have launched an internal investigation into the allegations against the female prison officer.
“A member of staff from HMP Wakefield has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation,” a Prison Service spokesman said.
The prisoner had also attacked another woman just before murdering Bailey, forcing her to the ground and squeezing her neck while threatening to kill her.
Justice Astill gave the then 19-year-old Thornhill life imprisonment for the murder, with eight years concurrent for inflicting grievous bodily harm on his victims.
The new case of a prison warder having an affair with Thornhill is especially alarming as Justice Astill said his murders were driven by a sexual element.
“It is your dangerous and perverted mind that lies behind these attacks,” Astill said at the time.
——–Agencies