‘Nosy’ prison worker jailed after accessing Rose West and Lucy Letby records | UK | News

A “curious” prison worker has been jailed for researching the records of Britain’s most notorious murderers, including Lucy Letby, Rose West and Harold Shipman. A court heard 27-year-old Courtney Harrison had access to confidential information during her prison service duties, which included a range of administrative duties at HMP Moorland in Doncaster.

He searched the personal records of some of the UK’s worst criminals in an act described there as a “serious breach of trust”, the crown court heard. Among the prisoners were Britain’s most prolific serial killer Harold Shipman and notorious child murderer Rose West.

He also accessed the files of nurse-turned-baby killer Lucy Letby, 36, and murderer Damien Bendall, 36, who killed his pregnant girlfriend, her two children and another child.

On Tuesday, July 7, Sheffield Crown Court heard how Harrison also looked on and passed on secret information from the prison records of cash machine robber George Tunney. The information fell on his phone.

Harrison was charged with misconduct in public office and causing a computer to perform a function to secure/enable unauthorized access to a program; In both cases, Harrison pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

He cried in court Tuesday when he was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Judge Jeremy Richardson KC described her actions as “completely wrong”.

He said: “Prison officers and prison officers place a very important responsibility and trust on themselves.

“When a person violates that trust, punishment must be meted out and an example must be made.”

Judge Richardson thought the most serious aspect of Harrison’s behavior was his decision to pass on confidential information about prisoner George Tunney, a friend of a friend, when asked.

Judge Richardson said the information provided by Harrison, who was 23 at the time of the crimes, later “reached Tunney’s cell”.

He continued: “He had some sort of connection to Tunney. It appears that, as your friend, he persuaded you to look up some details about Tunney, knowing that he had access to confidential information about the inmates.”

The email was found on a device he improperly kept in his cell.

Judge Richardson noted Tunney escaped from prison before he was later found and arrested.

He said there was no evidence to suggest he “helped” Harrison escape. Addressing Harrison, Judge Richardson said: “If there was any evidence to suggest that you materially aided a prisoner in escaping, this would be a very serious matter.

“Your prison sentence will be measured in a few years.”

Judge Richardson said another aspect of Harrison’s offending had to do with his “curiosity” when it came to notorious prisoners.

Judge Richardson said: “In 2022 and 2023, you accessed a number of personal records of very high-profile criminals serving long sentences… they were all notorious criminals.

“You have accessed the records of at least four people in prisons in the north of England, one of whom is a Category A prisoner.”

Judge Richardson said it was fair to say no real harm had been caused by Harrison’s access to the records of notorious criminals, but his conduct taken as a whole was a “very serious matter”.

“You were actually dancing on the edge of a volcano. That volcano erupted and here you are facing a sentence at the Crown Court.”

Judge Richardson said he took into account many aspects of mitigating measures, such as Harrison’s young age at the time of the offences. Other considerations included the lack of any previous convictions, the possibility of rehabilitation and the low risk of reoffending.

However, he concluded that only immediate imprisonment could provide appropriate punishment, “one element of which is deterrence”.

Judge Richardson said: “What you did was wrong from start to finish. Accessing private criminal and prison records of past and present prisoners. This was a serious breach of trust.”