Prison officer planned to trial Calpol syringe to get pregnant from convict’s sperm

A judge has warned of “zero tolerance” to inappropriate relationships inside jail after a ‘besotted’ prison officer tried to smuggle out a convicted offender’s sperm – so she could have a baby.

Love-struck Alison Sharples, 47, was caught out when a medicine syringe containing traces of the kidnapper’s semen was found in her handbag during a routine search.

A month later, a further search of her home uncovered a letter from 32-year-old inmate Marvin Berkeley hidden in Sharples’ underwear drawer.

Now the former operational support officer at HMP Garth, in Leyland, Lancashire, is beginning a nine-month sentence after being convicted of misconduct in public office.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Newall told Preston Crown Court: “You had worked in the prison service for a period of ten years and appeared to have been a respected officer.

”But you attempted to become pregnant with this man’s child, albeit via a rather rudimentary form of artificial insemination, and there was communication between you outside the prison when he was inside the prison.

“Inappropriate relationships between staff and prisoners are very dangerous and can often lead to other criminal activity which puts the public at further risk.

“Those who choose to cross the line and form inappropriate relationships put the general public, including staff and visitors to the prison, at very significant risk.”

”The work in the prison service carries a high degree of public trust and responsibility and the integrity of a prison service is dependent on officers acting in a professional manner.”

The court heard a number of testimonials describing Sharples as a kind-hearted and caring woman, who now works as a carer for two pensioners.

But Judge Newell said there must be “zero tolerance to inappropriate prison relationships” and said he must hand down a deterrent sentence to the mother-of-three.

Berkeley was weeks away from parole when their affair was discovered on October 23, 2014. Berkeley, from Salford, Manchester, and his twin brother, Michael, were jailed in 2007 for leading a ruthless gun gang known as the Fallowfield Mandem who hijacked cars and kidnapped motorists around Greater Manchester.

When the semen found on Sharples’ syringe was tested it was linked to either Berkeley or his twin brother, but as Michael was in a different jail officers knew it belonged to Marvin.

Former friend Nicola Ball, who once worked at the prison, told the jury Sharples had collected the semen from a sample slipped under the cell door by Berkeley and planned to use the Calpol syringe “like a turkey baster” to get pregnant.

Ms Ball claimed she had tried to warn Sharples, and said the officer had even told her she had taken a phone into jail for her lover.

Berkeley was not charged with any offence in respect of their romance.