Prison psychologist who allowed lifer to film their sex sessions and smuggled in phones and SIMs in baked bean tins is jailed for 28 months

A prison psychologist who conducted a sexual relationship with a lifer and started a business with him smuggling in phones hidden in baked bean tins has been jailed for 28 months.

Dr Amber-Renee Gayle, 32, allowed murderer Rickcarlo Williams, 24, to video their sex sessions in a 'Cabin room' at HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire. The room was usually used by her to give therapy sessions to inmates, a court heard.

The pair exchanged more than 12,000 messages on secret phones over a six-month period in 2024, a judge was told, with some including intimate photographs. Other texts concerned the smuggling of handsets, SIM cards, dongles and chargers concealed in a hollowed-out dictionary, a Heinz baked bean tin or a can of Monster energy drink.

The court heard they would charge £50 for a SIM card, £500 for a USB stick and up to £2,000 for an iPhone. 

Prosecutor Daniel White said the specially converted vessels allowed Gayle to conceal the items on entering the prison estate.

Sentencing her at Birmingham Crown Court, Her Honour Sarah Buckingham said Gayle was guilty of a 'gross breach of trust'.

She told Gayle her behaviour 'has contributed to a loss of confidence in the prison service' and added: 'Corruption creates an unsafe environment for those working in the system.'

Gayle, who wore glasses and a black trouser suit in the dock, was sentenced to 14 months for conspiracy to convey banned items into prison and given a consecutive eight-month sentence for misconduct in public office. 

Dr Amber-Renee Gayle, 32, allowed murderer Rickcarlo Williams, 24, to video their sex sessions

Rickarlo Williams appeared at the hearing via video link from Swinfen Hall and was ordered to serve another 14 months from the point he becomes eligible for parole

She was also given an additional six months after admitting computer misuse by using the prison's National Offender Management Information System to obtain information about serving prisoners. 

Earlier in the hearing, Mr White said that Gayle was aged 27 when she began work as a practitioner of psychology at HMP Swinfen Hall, a closed young offenders' institution outside Lichfield, in June 2021.

She was responsible, said Mr White, for 50 young individuals with complex trauma needs, many of whom had a history of suffering violence and sexual abuse.

The court heard that concerns were raised in early 2024 about Gayle's relations with inmates and she was given counter-corruption training but in May of that year she and Williams – serving a minimum 25-year term for murder – began their relationship.

The prosecution estimated that they smuggled 35 mobile phones into the prison, as well as three phone chargers, four dongles and nine SIM cards.

These were estimated to have made the couple up to £9,550, although the defence claimed the true figure was around half that amount.

Gayle used a secret SIM card to communicate with Williams' associates and pick up the goods destined for the lifer. In text messages, she referred to herself as, 'Rickcarlo's girl' and in messages to her lover she would perform stocktakes on what mobiles had been sold and which were still in his care.

Mr White said that investigators had also discovered a gallery of sexually explicit images – videos of the pair having sex as well as pictures being exchanged when they were apart.

In one message, Gayle wrote to Williams: 'I care about you so much. You are my baby.'

The court also heard that Gayle had accessed the prison intelligence database on Williams' behalf to check the whereabouts of another inmate.

She also warned Williams when she became aware of cell checks to be conducted by prison authorities.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Rachel Roberts, a consultant psychologist at Swinfen Hall, said of Gayle: 'Her actions had a devastating impact on the service, causing confusion and anger and impacting on the ability of those who we treat to trust the service itself.'

In mitigation, Stephen Akinsanya MBE described the case as, 'a tragedy' and said that Gayle was a 'young lady of previously exemplary character who had an unblemished record at school and university' and conducted voluntary work.

He said that Gayle had first begun working with Williams in August 2023 and he had made inappropriate sexual advances towards her which she flagged to her line manager.

But the following year, a personal health crisis and the discovery that her boyfriend of ten years had been cheating on her led to a 'gross lack of professionalism in succumbing to Williams' advances'.

He admitted that the pair had 'become business partners and engaged in a sexual relationship in wholly inappropriate circumstances'.

Judge Buckingham told Gayle: 'You were given additional training to reinforce boundaries which clearly did not work.'

She added: 'Prison staff have been left tainted by your actions. You were not naive and inexperienced. You were a prison psychologist who prisoners felt they could trust.

'Far from being under the thumb of Williams you were the equal of him, if not in charge.'

Williams, who will not be considered for parole until 2043, appeared via video link from HMP Birmingham. He had admitted conspiring to smuggle banned items into prison as well as having a mobile phone in his cell.

His barrister Justin Jarmola said his client wished to, 'express his apology and deep remorse and regret at placing Miss Gayle in the position she is today'.

Her Honour Judge Buckingham ordered that 14 months be added to his sentence when his time for parole arrives.

Williams was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in 2022 for the machete murder of Hussein Al-Saabri, 23, in Harrow, north-west London, in 2020.