A British mum left her four children behind when she flew to the US to marry a prisoner who has 'hatred' tattooed on his forehead.

Becci Brennan, 29, fell in love with former gang member Travis Thompson after connecting on writeaprisoner.com, a website that links single women to inmates.

Ms Brennan has flown to California to visit Thompson several times in the past year despite her only source of income being benefits and child support, a friend told The Sun.

But now, she has married Thompson, 32, who is serving a jail term of almost eight years for gun and drug offences at Mule Creek State Prison in California.

Becci Brennan flew to California to marry former gang member Travis Thompson (pictured together)

Brennan left her three daughters and son at home in Stanwell, Surrey, to wed Thompson in Oregon, California, on Friday, The Mirror reports.

She then took to Facebook to share pictures of the pair together.

'Today I married my inmate lol!' Ms Brennan, who has now changed her surname on Facebook to Thompson, wrote alongside the pictures.

'Started off as a penpal journey and now husband and wife. Super happy right now.'

She added: 'I know it's crazy. The whole thing is crazy but I don't regret it.'

Ms Brennan has promised her friends that she'll have an 'actual wedding when he is out,' according to The Sun.

She met Thompson on writeaprisoner.com, a website that links single women to inmates

He is due to be released in 2023.

She also told pals that she can spend a night with Thompson in the New Year when she returns to California.

Ms Brennan, who split from the father of her children five years ago, has been messaging Thompson for more than a year.

According to pictures on Facebook, he has sent her children birthday cards during that period.

He described himself as 'passionate, optimistic and loving' on his Write A Prisoner profile, which has since been deleted.

He claimed he was looking for 'someone that I couldn't imagine living my life without.'

Thompson was jailed for seven years and eight months in 2015 after pleading guilty to charges including possession of a firearm, according to The Sun.

He had also been sentenced to two years and four months for possession of a controlled substance in 2012.

Thompson is serving a jail term of almost eight years for gun and drug offences at Mule Creek State Prison (pictured) in California

He was jailed for 100 days in 2007 after pleading no contest to burglary, court records show.

Thompson is serving his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison, which has previously housed criminal cult leader Charles Manson.

The prison became the only California state prison exclusively for Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY) inmates in 2005.

SNY inmates are separated from the general prison population for their own safety.

Many are informants, gang dropouts, sex offenders and former police officers.