A “rising star” prison governor’s relationship with a major organised crime boss was exposed after police found a pair of men’s flip-flops at her home.
Kerri Pegg herself faces jail after she was on Tuesday found guilty of misconduct in public office over her relationship with known criminal Anthony Saunderson. A court heard Pegg, described in court as, “petite, blonde and bubbly”, had been fast-tracked into and then up the prison service, quickly climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in six years.
But the 42-year-old woman’s decision to become “emotionally and personally” involved with the married man, who for a time had been one of Britain’s most wanted fugitives and was serving ten years for drugs offences, proved to be her downfall.
Against the rules, Pegg, a divorcee, tried to sign off a request by Saunderson to be released on temporary licence. She was transferred to another prison later days later but their relationship resumed when Saunderson, 44, was released in 2019.
Their fling was soon uncovered when police – having had intelligence – raided Pegg’s home and found a “burner” phone, a toothbrush and a pair of men’s flip-flops. The latter two items were found to have Saunderson’s DNA on them. Officers also discovered the Mercedes C class outside Pegg’s home, a car Saunderson had bought her for £12,000.
Despite her tearful denials in the witness box she had ever been in a relationship with Saunderson, a jury took less than three hours to convict Pegg. She will be sentenced on Monday afternoon, with Judge Graham Knowles warning her: “I have no choice but to send you to prison given the gravity of your offending.”
Preston Crown Court was told communication between Saunderson, unreformed by his time inside, and his gang was unearthed as law enforcement agencies hacked into their encrypted phone network called Encrochat. Not only did it expose gang members, it also laid bare Saunderson and Pegg’s relationship.
Pegg, originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, had worked in the Probation Service for eight years. Married at 26 and divorced four years later after her husband’s building and renovations firm went bust, she switched to the Prison Service for a new challenge. Pegg joined in 2012 as a graduate entrant, working at prisons including Risley, Liverpool and Styal, and by April 2018 she was a governor at HMP Kirkham, where Saunderson was reaching the end of 10-year sentence for drugs offences.
He had been one of Merseyside’s most wanted fugitives for his part in importing £19million of cocaine in shipments of corned beef from Argentina. From the start of her time at the jail there were concerns about Pegg being inappropriately close to Saunderson, with the two often being in her office with the door closed. She told jurors there were “cultural issues” at the jail and clashed with bosses over her “progressive” and “hands-on” open-door policy with prisoners.
And the net closed in on Pegg, then living in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after the law enforcement agencies’ work on the Encrochat network. Andrew Alty, defending, in his closing speech to the jury, claimed Pegg had been, “green and stupid” and a naive and gullible person who was manipulated by Saunderson.
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