Prison officer who texted inmate guilty of misconduct

Dawn MacCormack denied misconduct in a public office

A prison officer who shared a "prolific" number of texts with an inmate has been convicted of misconduct in a public office.

Dawn MacCormack, 42, was working at HMP The Mount prison near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, when she began having contact with prisoner Josh Moore.

She shared more than 4,000 messages and more than 90 calls with him.

MacCormack had denied misconduct in a public office but admitted two charges of unauthorised transmission of calls or texts.

She is due to be sentenced on 13 September.

'I am only human'

Prosecutor Mark Seymour said the prisoner had access to two illicit phones inside the prison in 2019.

On the first phone, over the course of 25 days there was “prolific” contact with 85 calls and 4,100 texts between the pair.

“They spanned every single day and were distributed for all hours of the day,” Mr Seymour said.

After the first phone was discovered, Moore obtained a second mobile. In less than 48 hours, there were seven calls and 272 texts.

When MacCormack was arrested in 2019, police found the texts on her phone had been deleted.

However, she had sent a message to a friend speaking about the relationship and said: “I am only human. It boils down to human feelings. I just had human emotions and feelings.”

'Brain fog'

The prosecutor said: “The defendant’s behaviour was inappropriate. It involved a breach of her duties as a prison officer."

MacCormack told the court she had been in extreme distress at the time due to her mother dying from cancer and the breakdown of her marriage.

She also said that she had depression at various stages and had "brain fog" about much of the time she was in contact with Moore.

Moore plead guilty to having two mobile phones in 2020.