A married prison officer who was filmed having sex with an inmate in a ‘shocking breach of the public’s trust’ was today jailed for 15 months.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, who turned 31 last month, appeared in court for sentencing today having previously admitted misconduct after an X-rated clip in a jail cell at Wandsworth Prison went viral on social media.
The footage showed a prison officer in uniform having sex with inmate Linton Weirich, 36, as her discarded radio constantly crackles with messages from colleagues.
De Sousa Abreu, who is originally from Brazil, is a married swinger and shares an eight-year-old daughter with her husband. She was arrested at Heathrow Airport while travelling with her father but denied trying to flee the country.
Wearing a grey pin-striped blazer over a white shirt, De Sousa Abreu was sentenced to 15 months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court, but will likely serve less than a third of the time behind bars.
Judge Martin Edmunds, KC, the Recorder of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said De Sousa Abreu compromised her role as a prison officer, undermined discipline and put officers at increased risk.
De Sousa Abreu admitted to having sex with the same prisoner on another occasion, while she was also caught on her own body camera giving oral sex to him on the same day the original sex tape was filmed.
Weirich was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Kingston Crown Court last June for burglary after he stole £65,000 worth of valuables from a safe in a flat in Kensington.
De Sousa Abreu, who claimed she has ‘found faith in God’ since the incident, also has an OnlyFans account where she shares explicit content.
Linda De Sousa Abreu (pictured) had sex with an inmate on video in HMP Wandsworth
The x-rated clip shows De Sousa Abreu dressed in full uniform and performing a sex act on Weirich, who has a pregnant girlfriend, at the Category A jail
Her account reads: ‘I am a happily married sexy latina who wants to share hot content with you. Experience my real life, real love, real sex and real orgasms!
‘We believe in authenticity, all our content will be genuine and we’ll never fake it because we want you to enjoy watching it as much as we’ll enjoy making it!’
Putting her behind bars, the judge told her: ‘On 25th June 2024 you were on duty in uniform when you went to a cell with the prisoner. You took off your prison issue radio and put it to one side.
‘Your set of keys was at risk of being taken.
‘A second prisoner was present and had a camera, doubtless on a ‘phone which must have been an unauthorised ‘phone. He also appears to have been smoking cannabis.
Rather than challenge his possession of a phone or cannabis you consented to him recording what was happening.
‘The recording lasts some four-and-a-half minutes during which you gave the prisoner oral sex, then vaginal intercourse in a number of positions, before concluding by giving more oral sex. You participated with evident enthusiasm.’
Eloise Marshall KC, prosecuting, said De Sousa Abreu had asked two matters to be ‘taken into consideration’ by the judge when he passes sentence.
‘The first one is one previous occasion of sexual intercourse with the same prisoner (Weirich).’
The second incident took place on the same date, June 25 last year, and also relates to Weirich.
Ms Marshall said it ‘relates to oral sex’ and was ‘partially recorded on her own prison-issued body-worn camera.’
Ms Marshall also told the court that De Sousa Abreu was stopped at the departure gate of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 while travelling with her father when she was arrested.
The court heard that night officer Anthony Belongan received a call from De Sousa Abreu in which she said: ‘I am not coming back to work, I am never returning to Wandsworth. I am at the airport. I have a family emergency.’
She said her husband would return her things.
De Sousa Abreu was born in Venezuela, has a Portuguese passport and has one previous conviction with ‘no relevance’ to this matter dating back to 2014, the court heard.
In a prepared statement written by De Sousa Abreu following her arrest she claimed was ‘terrified for her own safety’ prior to the offences.
She said: ‘I thought if I didn’t go along with it, they (the prisoners) would have both raped me and there was no guard on the landing.
‘All the prisoners were out on the third landing, no-one was banged up, it was very loud and everyone was out.
‘I was too scared to reach for my whistle and blow it – no-one would have heard, they would have seriously assaulted me if I’d tried to get the whistle.
‘…At all times I was acting under duress.’
Ms Marshall said this account had since been proved to be ‘entirely false’ and that De Sousa Abreu had ‘never made any complaints to the prison about any incidents involving her.’
She continued: ‘The crown say there is premeditation and clearly some planning.
‘She had to make sure she would be on the wing alone with him in order to do this, she also arranged for (the second prisoner) to be present to keep watch while it went on.
‘We say the act was undoubtedly deliberate and intentional in terms of planning….(it was) an intentional breach of her duties as a prison officer.
‘She had the necessary training and knew what her duties were and was aware she had to maintain a professional relationship with the prisoners.
‘She has undermined the authority of all prison staff – she specifically and severely undermined the positive effect that a female officer can have in male environment in a male prison, and how a female officer may be perceived.
‘(She also) undermined the trust of prisoners and the integrity of the staff.’
De Sousa Abreu was a prison officer at HMP Wandsworth (pictured) when the explicit footage was recorded – her friend alleged she was ‘coerced’ into doing so by prisoners
Linton Weirich (pictured with his partner) is the inmate who was filmed having sex with a female guard in a cell
Abreu was close to tears as Judge Emunds told her: ‘The sentence on you is one of 15 months imprisonment. Of that you will serve half in custody, unless the prison authorities decide to release you earlier. The remainder you will serve on licence.
‘You have been subject to a qualifying curfew for 190 days and that entitles you to a credit of 95 days against that sentence.’
In sentencing remarks, the judge told her: ‘From what I know about you, you were certainly not naïve about the media or social media. It must have been obvious that the recording would be shown around and shared, at least amongst prisoners at Wandsworth where it would do the most harm.
‘Whether you intended it or not, the fact is that the video went viral, and caused great harm. Many offenders do not intend the harm that their offending causes, but they nevertheless bear responsibility for it.
‘You have asked for two other offences to be taken into consideration, and I shall do so. They show that this offence was not isolated. It was part of repeated behaviour. It is not clear when the earliest offence occurred so I shall assume the repetition was within a few days.
The consequence of the recording going viral, a result that you did not intend but which was certainly a consequence of your offence, has been that prison officers have faced heckling and harassment. They have been confronted with sexualised images falsely suggesting that your conduct is typical.
‘Children of your fellow female prison officers have been teased as to what their mothers may do at work. It is inevitable that the damage for which you were responsible at Wandsworth has spread, to some degree, through the prison estate.
‘It will impact on the reputation of the prison service and, with that, the prospects of recruiting and retaining staff. It causes anxiety among those close to vulnerable prisoners who worry more about the environment in which prisoners are held. That recording is still out there and will doubtless circulate indefinitely.
‘You are not responsible for the wider problems of prisons, but you have added to them. The level of harm is high, indeed very high.’
The judge added: ‘You had started work at Wandsworth in January 2024 some five months before this offending. You completed basic training in April.
‘That training includes “counter corruption” training, which emphasised the need to maintain professional relationships with prisoners and avoid becoming compromised by them.’
HMP Wandsworth governor Andrew Davy said in a statement read to the court: ‘It has taken many years for female staff to be respected and treated professionally in a male dominated environment.
‘The action of this defendant has undone years of positive and rewarding prisoner interactions in less than a day.
‘It has been reported back from female staff that [prisoners] were openly coming on to them and seeing them as fair game. Officers who went home were met by children who said they were teased at school because their mothers worked at Wandsworth.
‘Staff have been heckled and harassed when they leave work and staff resigning because they are embarrassed to work there.
‘The actual act meant that the prions involved had full access to security keys and radio and potential loss of order and control, placing all those in the prison at risk.
‘Since the event they have worked hard to rebuild confidence and trust of prisoner but social media has been unforgiving and constantly reminded of the video.’
Marsha Silburn, head of security at Wandsworth Prison since 2019, said: ‘Prison officers and other staff will routinely encounter vulnerable prisoners it requires high standard of professional conducted and their aim is to protect and to prevent wrongdoing.
‘There are expectations of prion officers and they must always adhere to these professional standards. They must make sure their contact with prions and former prisoners are not abused
‘This relationship meant that it not only placed this offender at risk but also the wider prion community they could exploit the offender and the wider community who knew about the relationship might also try to coerce the defendant.
‘Furthermore inappropriate relationships represent a failure to protect those in our care that may be vulnerable.
‘A corrupt prison culture can undermine a prisoner’s confidence in their ability to maintain order. Impacting on good order and discipline in the prison having under taken the training and failing to maintain a high standard mean there is a loss of confidence in the public domain and this has had a sever ripple effect on the prison.
De Sousa Abreu came under fire in September last year after she was spotted mocking her ankle bracelet at a London party (pictured)
Weirich, the inmate in the video, was jailed for four and a half years at Kingston Crown Court last June for burglary after he stole £65,000 worth of valuables from a safe in a flat in Kensington
A close friend of the prison officer (pictured) previously told MailOnline she was having ‘marriage problems’ when she filmed the x-rated clip with the inmate
‘HMS Wandsworth was ridiculed in national press.
‘Female officer are invaluable and this action of one person has set back the prison community by years and brought sadness and shame to hard working staff across the country this may have issue with recruitment and retention.’
Rajiv Menon, KC, defending, said Abreu has ‘taken full responsibility for her actions’ while also noting the ‘conditions she was working in at Wandsworth prison.
‘She accepts full responsibility for engaging consensually in sexual activity with the prisoners and accepts full responsibility for allowing that encounter to be filmed – no ifs and no buts.’
Mr Menon referred to De Sousa Abreu’s statement which said: ‘I fully accept responsibility for my impulsive behaviour and deeply regret the breach of trust I committed whilst serving in my role.’
He asked for a suspended sentence for the shamed jail guard and referred to a psychiatric report conducted by ‘former lead psychiatrist’ at Wandsworth Prison.
The report stated she suffers from ‘severe personality disorder’ that ‘explains her offending and which, in combination with her ADHD, makes her a ‘highly impulsive and reckless person who tends to act without considering the consequences.’
‘(The doctor) then concludes that Ms Abreu is a highly emotional, damaged individual who over the years has increasingly used sex as a means to feel positive emotions.
‘We submit on her behalf that the mental disorder should in all fairness significantly reduce her culpability in this case.’
He also said that his client ‘should not be punished for the fact that this is a failing prison’ and denied suggestions she had tried to flee the jurisdiction.
‘Her entire life was literally crumbling around her, she made the stupid decision to just leave the country for a few weeks, she hoped until the media storm had cleared’, he said.
De Sousa Abreu’s sister Andreina previously told MailOnline that her sister was now ‘suffering the consequences’, after she warned her not to mix her lifestyle with work.
She said De Sousa Abreu and her husband Nathan were stars of Channel 4’s Open House: The Great Sex Experiment in which couples pushed the boundaries of the relationships at a luxury country escape, which aired in 2023.
But close friend Hayley claimed De Sousa Abreu had been going through a difficult time when the illegal act behind bars was carried out.
Hayley, who only wanted to give her first name, claimed prisoners knew De Sousa Abreu’s husband’s name and about her OnlyFans.
She claimed the alleged ‘pressure’ and ‘coercion’ had a knock on effect on De Sousa Abreu’s marriage around the time the scandalous footage was recorded.
In the video, which sparked a police investigation, Weirich’s cellmate is smoking while recording on his phone.
He can be heard saying: ‘Guys we’ve made history, this is what I’m telling you.’
Grinning the prisoner filming adds: ‘This is how we roll in Wandsworth.’
He also tells his cellmate having sex: ‘You know you’re gangster innit!’
Footage from the cell also shows piles of clothes heaped over a bunk bed.
De Sousa Abreu came under fire in September last year after she was spotted mocking her ankle bracelet at a London party.
The former prison guard was seen partying at a daytime club and quoted the TikTok trend ‘very mindful, very cutesy, very demure’ while pointing to her electronic tag.
A friend of De Sousa Abreu shared the video of her stroking her tag as she put her leg on the table. She is seen lifting up her cream dress and saying: ‘Very mindful, very cutesy, very demure.’
The phrase became popular on TikTok after it was first used by Joolie Lebron, who made a funny video about workplace beauty etiquette.
A source told The Sun: ‘It’s disgusting she has no shame. She is laughing her head off and looks happy she has a tag to show off.’
De Sousa Abreu, of Fulham, southwest London, admitted one charge of misconduct in public office when she first appeared at Isleworth Crown Court in July.
The charge, which as a common law offence, carries the maximum of life imprisonment.
Prosecutor Eloise Marshall, KC, told the court a police interview recorded with the inmate in the video ‘contains information that will be subject of further investigation.’
De Sousa Abreu’s lawyer Gayathri Yogarajah earlier described her as a ‘young mother’ and ‘a person of good character’.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Tetteh Turkson earlier said: ‘This was a shocking breach of the public’s trust. De Sousa was clearly an enthusiastic participant who wrongly thought she would avoid responsibility.
‘The CPS recognises there is no excuse for any prison officer who conducts themselves in such a manner, and we will never hesitate to prosecute those who abuse their position of power.
‘After working closely with the Metropolitan Police to build the strongest possible case, De Sousa had no option but accept she was guilty. She will now rightly face the consequences of her actions.’
A Prison Service spokesman earlier said: ‘Staff corruption is not tolerated and the former prison officer allegedly featured in this video has been reported to the police.’
The charge against De Sousa Abreu states that, between 26 and 28 June, while acting as a public officer, namely an HMP Wandsworth prison officer, ‘you wilfully and without reasonable excuse or justification misconducted yourself in a way which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder by engaging in a sexual act with a prisoner in a prison cell’.
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