A love-struck prison officer who tried to smuggle a Salford gangster’s sperm from behind bars has been jailed...for nine months.

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

A further search of her home uncovered a letter from inmate Marvin Berkeley hidden in Sharples’ underwear drawer.

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

During her trial the jury heard Sharples, was “besotted” with 32-year-old gangster Berkeley and told a friend she wanted to ‘have a chocolate baby’ with him.

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

When the semen found on Sharples’s 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.

The hearing at Preston Crown Court was told mother-of-three Sharples, from Chorley, was jealous of Berkeley’s glamorous girlfriend, ‘Dee Dee’, who would visit her jailbird boyfriend at the prison wearing stilettos and full make-up.

Sharples’ former friend told the jury her pal 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. “She wanted a chocolate baby,” the friend told the court.

Judge Simon Newell, sentencing, said: “It is clear from the evidence that you formed an inappropriate relationship with a serving prisoner.

“In furtherance of that relationship you attempted to fall pregnant with his child, albeit via a rather rudimentary form of artificial insemination.

“It may well not have been that if there was to be manipulation or blackmail that it would have occurred while he was in prison. It is just as likely it would have occurred and may well have been easier to facilitate once he had been released from 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 court heard a number of testimonials describing Sharples as a kind hearted and caring woman, who now works as a carer for two OAPs.

But Judge Newell said there must be zero tolerance to inappropriate prison relationships and said he must hand down a deterrent sentence.

Members of Sharples’ family watched from the public gallery as she was taken to the cells.

One of her two grown-up daughters shouted: “I love you, mum” as she was led away.

Berkeley has not been charged with any offence in respect of their romance. It is not known whether he is still in jail.