Prison officer smuggled drugs even after arrest

A mugshot of Chelsea Kemp. She has blonde shoulder length straight hair and blue eyes, with false eyelashes. She wears a black top and is staring at the camera. Image source, Thames Valley Police
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Chelsea Kemp worked with two men to smuggle drugs into three jails

  • Published

A prison officer who continued to smuggle drugs into jail even after she had been previously arrested is now behind bars herself.

Chelsea Kemp, 32, was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court to eight and a half years in prison.

Kemp, from Torre Close, Bletchley, had worked with two men to smuggle drugs into HMP Spring Hill, HMP Woodhill and HMP Erlestoke.

She pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and conspiring to convey a prohibited article into a prison.

Haydon Flavell, 27, and Omar Windross, 26, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle drugs into prison.

The Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) said the crimes were carried out between September 2018 and June 2022.

Kemp, a prison officer at HMP Aylesbury, worked with inmate Windross to arrange the delivery of drugs and other contraband into HMP Woodhill.

Despite being arrested in July 2021, Kemp denied the offence and was released – and carried out offences for another year.

The exterior of HMP Erlestoke with a large sign outside and high barbed-wire fences. There is a tree behind the white and black sign, which says HM PRISON SERVICE and HMP / YOI ERLESTOKE.Image source, Karen Gardner/BBC
Image caption,

As well as targeting prisons in Buckinghamshire, the group smuggled drugs into HMP Erlestoke in Wiltshire

Kemp also instructed Flavell to carry out "throw-overs" at Buckinghamshire prisons Woodhill and Spring Hill, as well as at HMP Erlestoke in Wiltshire.

The ROCU said she would drive Flavell to those locations.

Kemp received "substantial payments" from people with links to prison, with one person paying her £11,000.

All three pleaded guilty in February this year.

Flavell, of North Ninth Street, Milton Keynes, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison while Windross, of no fixed abode, was jailed for three years.

'Total disregard'

Det Ch Supt Steve Boniface said Kemp "had a total disregard for the law".

He added: "She was organising drugs and contraband to be thrown into prisons for financial gain and, despite being arrested and released, continued to engage in the same activity.

"Her conduct has betrayed public confidence and hindered [the Prison Service's] efforts to rehabilitate offenders, all whilst she was employed as a serving prison officer.

"I hope this sentence demonstrates that no-one is exempt from the law, and that anyone attempting to organise the supply of drugs into HMP establishments will be identified and prosecuted."

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