A prison governor allegedly given a £12,000 Mercedes by a prisoner with whom she was in a relationship told her trial today that she had a ‘hands-on’ management style.
‘Petite, and blonde’ Kerri Pegg, 42, was allegedly in a relationship with Anthony Saunderson when he was serving a prison sentence for drug offences at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire in 2018.
Following his release, Saunderson used the name Jesse Pinkman, a meth dealer in US crime drama Breaking Bad, during secret communications with other criminals, jurors have been told.
Pegg, said to be a ‘rising star’ after joining the Prison Service as a graduate trainee, is also alleged to have signed off Saunderson’s early release without authority.
The jury at Preston Crown Court has heard she was given the Mercedes which Saunderson paid for with 18 packs of amphetamines.
Pegg told the court today that she had spent eight years in the Probation Service before applying for a place on the Prison Service graduate scheme.
While working at HMP Liverpool, staff were aware that she’d had a breast enhancement procedure, and was put on restricted duties for a time to recover, she said.
During her time in Liverpool she was called into a meeting with the main governor after the Prison Service found out she had three County Court Judgments (CCJs) against her, she said.
She was asked about being challenged by a superior officer at HMP Liverpool at a meeting in December 2017 about an alleged relationship with a member of the criminal fraternity.
Pegg denied that she ever had such a relationship and or telling her superior: ‘I always pick that sort of lad.’
She also denied that at the meeting over the county court judgements she had been asked about her choice of boyfriends and her low self-esteem.
Pegg admitted that she had taken time off from work at the prison to have a breast enhancement some months earlier.
But she denied that she had offered to ‘get them out’ at the meeting.
Pegg admitted that she had signed ‘Release on Temporary Licence’ forms, known as ROTLs, including ones for Saunderson.
She said that temporary release was common for prisoners nearing the end of their sentence and she would have signed over 500 of them during her time at the jail.
Pegg agreed that Saunderson’s ROTL in October 2018 should only have been signed off by another official, the acting duty governor.
She was arrested at her home on February 11, 2021, and later charged.
Pegg denies two charges of misconduct in a public office and one of possession of criminal property.
The trial continues.
