Former prison officer Barbara Dyer acquitted of affair with inmate speaks out

Barbara Dyer, who lives in Bournemouth, was accused of conducting a liaison with Saul Powell at HMP Winchester and charged with misconduct in a public office.

But the 27-year-old said she was the victim of a "failure of duty" by her employers after being threatened by another prisoner.

Miss Dyer, whose devoted father died just a month before she was cleared by jurors, completed a 12-week training course before starting work at the prison in February 2017.

She handed in her resignation just three-and-a-half weeks later. Miss Dyer said her information was shared widely around the prison after her handbag, which contained her passport, driving licence and student ID, was stolen from inside her car.

A Bournemouth man was eventually convicted of the offence after a trial at Poole Magistrates' Court in February 2017.

He was already serving a sentence at HMP Winchester, and magistrates sentenced him to 16 weeks consecutive for the theft, as well as more than £1,600 in compensation.

Miss Dyer alerted her managers to the conflict, but was told she would never come into contact with the 45-year-old.

However, she said she soon became aware he worked in the kitchens, meaning she would see him multiple times a day.

"I didn't know who he was or what he looked like, but he knew what I looked like because he'd seen my identification," she said.

"Saul Powell, who was serving a 17-year sentence, then came to me and told me my information had been shared around the prison. I asked him to write down all the information he was aware of, but he said he wasn't a grass and wouldn't say any more."

A short time later, Miss Dyer said she was told there was a "bounty" on her head. It is alleged the prisoner convicted of the handbag theft had offered the compensation money ordered by magistrates to anyone who would hurt her.

"I informed my managers straight away, but was told they already knew about it. No one had told me," she said.

"I was having panic attacks. I had to call for an ambulance because I was so frightened to go to work. I felt like the only ones who were interested in my welfare were Saul Powell and some of the other prisoners."

Miss Dyer resigned with immediate effect on March 6 2017. Before leaving, she handed bosses a dossier of evidence relating to incidents she said were not properly dealt with, including threats made against her.

Days later, on March 10, Miss Dyer said she was attacked yards from her front door in Littlemoor Avenue by a man who whispered: "This is what's going to happen if you continue to **** with prisoner's lives."

After leaving her job, she wrote love letters to Powell, then 25, after leaving the prison service.

"I felt completely indebted to him," she said.

"It was such an intense situation. I had been living in such terror and fear. I was paranoid, hyper-vigilant, always looking over my shoulder.

"I was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of what had happened."

Prosecutors would later claim Miss Dyer had behaved improperly and kissed Powell while working for the prison.

She said: "I did write him letters, I admit that.

"But I didn't do that while I was working at the prison."

Miss Dyer, who believed she wanted to marry Powell and have children with him, said: "The trial was just awful.

"It was so damaging to me. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong."

She said she plans to take time to recuperate following her acquittal.

"I need time to breathe, grieve and recover," she said.

"I was found not guilty on my birthday. I just went home and collapsed.

"This whole case has been treated as if it's a salacious scandal, but it isn't. I feel like I've been failed."

Miss Dyer's solicitor Joseph Wright of Bannister & Co said: "The prosecution case was initially very weak in my view.

"It entirely relied upon the allegation she was guilty of misconduct in a public office by virtue of sending letters, that being proof of an inappropriate relationship.

"However, any letter sent was done so significantly after she resigned. That was always going to be a problem for the prosecution and an application was made to dismiss the case on that basis.

"The prosecution reacted by enlarging the dates in their charge."

Mr Wright said prosecutors "did not have, and could not adduce, any evidence".

"This is someone who worked in the prison service for a matter of weeks," he said.

"She reported her concerns on various aspects. She was, in my view, a vulnerable person. She needed support, but was not given it.

"The prosecution did not want to accept she was vulnerable.

"The expense to her mental health is quite plain."

Similar misconduct cases usually concern far more serious allegations, such as the smuggling in of drugs, Mr Wright said.

"There wasn't even a hint anyone had an extra helping of food as a result of any of this," he added.

PRISONER ROBBED ESCORTS IN DORSET

As previously, Saul Powell was jailed in February 2017 after joining a conspiracy to rob sex workers in Bournemouth.

Escort Barbara Edwards, of Guest Avenue in Poole, is believed to have been the victim of a robbery attempt by Powell and Mitch Jarvis on March 13 2016.

Both men - career criminals who have previously been jailed for further armed raids - had already robbed an escort working in Kent on February 21 of that year.

However, Edwards then talked them into allowing her to join in, and provided a list of other women to target.

Two further women living in the Dorset area were then subjected to terrifying gunpoint robberies.

Police stopped Edwards’ Audi near the roundabout in Talbot Avenue as she drove the men to their next robbery on Sunday, March 20 2016.

Edwards was wearing a rolled-up balaclava and latex gloves.

Jarvis had a handgun in his waistband and was carrying gaffer tape, leather gloves and cable ties. Powell had a balaclava, locking knife and latex gloves. The gun recovered from Jarvis was a blank firing pistol.

Seven further escorts had already been contacted by the trio.

Both Jarvis, then 24 and of Martins Close in Ramsgate, Kent, and Powell, then 23 and of Dundonald Road in Ramsgate, admitted conspiracy to rob, two counts of robbery, attempted robbery, two counts of possessing an imitation firearm and one of having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence.

Edwards, then 51, denied conspiracy to rob, attempted robbery, robbery and having an imitation firearm. She was convicted after a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Jarvis and Powell were both sentenced to six years in prison in September 2011 for a series of armed robberies in the Ramsgate area. The men carried a machete and an axe during the raids, it was heard.

During the sentence last February, a judge said both men met the criteria for “dangerousness”. As a result, they received an extended sentence of 17-and-a-half years.

Edwards was sentenced to 10 years in prison.