Prison guard admits having sexual relationship with vicious armed burglar serving 11 years for raiding homes where children and elderly beaten

A prison guard and a violent armed robber have pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse in one of Britain’s biggest prisons.

Alicia Novas, 19, and Declan Winkless, 30, admitted misconduct in public office over a four-month period at HMP Five Wells last year.

Their escapade first reportedly came to light when a video of Winkless having sex with Novas in the privately run prison began circulating last year.

The court heard the prison officer “engaged in sexual intercourse” with Winkless, gave him his phone number and smuggled cannabis and a mobile phone into the category C prison.

He also failed to report that he was in possession of a phone and marijuana.

During a brief hearing at Northampton Crown Court today, Novas pleaded guilty to six charges and Winkless to seven.

Winkless encouraged and aided both crimes of misconduct in public office committed by Novas, which “constituted an abuse of public trust.”

He also admitted making unauthorized electronic communications from inside the prison to the outside, while Winkless also pleaded guilty to a charge of unauthorized possession of a cell phone.

The court heard the pair committed misconduct in public office between August and December last year.

At the time, Novas is understood to have been working as a probation officer at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, one of the UK’s largest prisons and run by private firm G4S.

Novas is understood to be working as a probation officer at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, one of the UK’s largest prisons and run by private firm G4S.

The disgraced police officer, who was released on bail and entered the dock wearing a black suit and glasses with a large bag in his hand, was told that he would be kept in custody until the verdict was announced on January 5.

The prosecutor did not disclose the evidence against the defendants during the short hearing.

Relatives of Novas, of Raunds, Northamptonshire, wept in the public gallery as he was taken into custody from the dock.

Winkless attended the hearing via video link from HMP Swaleside, where he is currently being held.

He is serving an 11-year sentence after being jailed in 2021 for being part of a violent gang of armed robbers who raided a string of properties in Leicestershire.

His gang robbed six houses, holding the residents captive. The victims included a pregnant woman and her three-year-old child, who was shot in the face in front of his parents to reinforce the raiders’ demands for money.

In another raid, a 63-year-old woman was dragged from her bed and suffered a heart attack, while another elderly woman was hit so hard that her eye socket was fractured. Leicestershire Live.

Recorder Jason MacAdam, sentencing at the time, said Winkless had played a role in “most, if not all” of the burglaries, which he said involved “gratuitous violence and excessive looting on a large scale”.

‘None of the (victims) will ever feel safe in their homes again and many are in the process of moving and one victim never returned to his home and is sleeping in his car,’ he said.

Following Novas and Winkless’s guilty pleas today, the court heard that a psychiatric report detailing a ‘diagnosis of emotional, unstable personality disorder features’ would be submitted in a bid to mitigation for the prison officer.

Judge Rebecca Crane told her: ‘Miss Novas, you are currently in custody. ‘You will be brought to court on the day the sentence will be announced.’