Ex-prison officer jailed after performing sex act on inmate
A former prison officer has been jailed after he was caught performing a sex act on an inmate with his body-worn video camera.
Cambridge Crown Court heard Rebecca Pinckard, 46, had a “close encounter” with prisoner Erion Nakdi, 42, in a shop cupboard at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk.
The mother, from Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, had previously sent a Moonpig card to the Albanian national, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for drug offences.
Pinckard admitted misconduct in a public office at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison on Friday.
Prosecutor Gavin Burrell told the court Pinckard was captured performing sex acts on Nakdi in two video clips taken five minutes apart with his own body-worn camera on July 5, 2024.
The footage came to light when another officer reviewing body-worn camera evidence discovered the clips.
Judge Anthony Cartin said Pinckard’s crime was “only discovered due to a clumsy mistake”, adding: “A police officer collecting evidence found evidence from your camera.” He stated that his camera was “activated during the intimate encounter.”
Judge Cartin also noted: “The offense was not a one-off; it continued over several months and the card was issued.” In jailing Pinckard, he concluded that his “conduct diminishes public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
Mr Burrell also revealed that Pinckard sent a Moonpig card to Nakdi on April 10, 2024. Sexual videos of Nakdi in his prison cell were recovered from Pinckard’s mobile phone and it was accepted that they were filmed in prison and then sent via social media messages.
The phone used to take these videos was never found, and the judge noted that Pinckard did not report turning them over to authorities.
Nakdi, who appeared in court via video link, admitted at the previous hearing that he had a mobile phone in prison without permission between 2 and 6 July 2024.
He was given a further 10 months consecutively, following his existing sentence of 16 years and three months imprisonment for conspiracy to supply class A drugs at Luton Crown Court in 2022.
Rory Keene, representing Nakdi, described the unauthorized device as a “pool phone” and described the Moonpig card as a “love card”, describing the situation as “a tragic case of emotional attraction between two people”.
Juliet Donovan, mitigating for Pinckard, described it as a “moment of madness” and insisted it was “not an affair”.
She explained that Pinckard had recently ended a “19-year relationship” and that “home life was particularly difficult at the time.”
Ms Donovan added that Pinckard “never gave (Nakdi) his mobile phone number so there can be no talk of repeated text messages” and that she sent the Moonpig card because Nakdi “explained he was having problems with his girlfriend” and Pinckard wanted to “try to cheer him up”.
The court heard Pinckard was given a warning in October 2023 for being “too familiar” with prisoners.
Miss Donovan suggested that Pinckard’s “giving cake and dessert” was him “naively and foolishly trying to make the prisoners’ lives a little better.”
Pinckard wiped tears from her eyes during Friday’s sentencing and appeared tearful as she was led to the cells.
