Hayley Youngman was caught smuggling mobile phones into a Category A jail so she could ‘sext’ a convicted murderer

With her blonde hair and blue eyes, this aspiring policewoman looks the picture of innocence.

But prison officer Hayley Youngman today finds herself with a criminal record after she was caught smuggling mobile phones into a Category A jail so she could ‘sext’ a convicted murderer.

The 21-year-old became ‘infatuated’ with killer Lerone Boye - serving 28 years for stabbing a teenager to death - when she began working nightshifts at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire.

The pair began exchanging love letters and then sexual text messages when Youngman - then just 20 - began smuggling contraband into the prison.

She had earlier been told by another prisoner she was ‘too pretty’ for the job.

Just months after assuming her role in September last year, Youngman was taking Boye mobile phones, SIM cards and the then-legal high Spice - a synthetic cannabis known to induce hallucinations and even psychotic episodes.

Once she had smuggled in one item, Boye began to manipulate Youngman and threatened to ‘cut her head off’ if she did not do as he said, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

But when other prison staff became suspicious, they watched Youngman on CCTV approaching a specially-adapted ‘sterile’ bin to drop off items.

When she was arrested on February 25, officers found a love letter from Boye hidden in a sock in her car.

Later analysis of her mobile showed the pair had sent each other around 500 messages - some of which contained ‘torrid sexual content’.

Lerone Boye is serving a 28-year sentence for stabbing a 17-year-old to death at a birthday party in Ilford, London

After pleading guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office, conveying prohibited articles into a prison and possession of cannabis, Youngman wept as she was handed a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

Acknowledging that she was ‘lucky not to be going to prison, Judge Jonathan Howarth also ordered her to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that Youngman, who lives with her parents in their £460,000 detached home in Ely, Cambridgeshire, took up the role after only eight weeks of training to gain more experience in the hope of joining the police.

But she soon fell for Boye, who was jailed in 2011 for stabbing a 17-year-old boy to death at a birthday party in Ilford, London.

He later escaped from a psychiatric unit and described his time on the run as ‘the best three months of my life’.

Prosecutor Hugh Vass told the court that while her phone was in possession of the police it received numerous messages from Boye, “a prisoner who she appeared to have a relationship with”.

Mr Vass added: ‘All previous messages between her and this prisoner had been deleted from her phone but some were recovered.

‘There are texts in relation to bringing SIM cards into the prison, bringing Spice in.

She became ‘infatuated’ with killer Lerone Boye - serving 28 years for stabbing a teenager to death - when she began working nightshifts at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire

‘She also made several requests for him to give her a letter back that was in relation to a torrid sexual content that she had said to him at the start of her relationship.’

A prisoner had earlier been captured on CCTV double-lining a bin bag to make it a ‘sterile’ place to store items.

Boys was then spotted opening the inner bag, putting it in his pocket and putting the bag containing rubbish back in the bin.

The court heard how a “familiar threat” often goes around prisons nearing the end of Ramadan that “someone is going to get their head chopped off”.

But ‘immature’ Youngman believed the threat was aimed at her.

Defending, Jennifer Dempster said: ‘She said ‘I was told that I was the one who had been identified. I was told that it may be me who will be beheaded.’

‘And that was something she would take back home and tell her mother at the time.’

Cambridge Crown Court heard heard that once she had smuggled in one item, Boye began to manipulate Youngman and threatened to ‘cut her head off’ if she did not do as he said

Miss Dempster added that a number of the texts Youngman received were threatening “when things didn’t go the way he [Boye] wanted”.

One message she received said: ‘I do not know what the f**k you are playing at, just make sure you meet the guy tomorrow.’

She is now said to be hoping to begin work as a dental nurse at her local practice.

Sentencing, Judge Howarth said: ‘You were seen to have visited the prisoner’s cell and passed notes into the cell to the prisoner.

‘The texts that were recovered spoke of you bringing legal highs into the prison and keeping the phone and it’s SIM card locked up.

‘There were what I can describe as torrid sexual letters to you and from you. The part of which this happened was at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.

‘Looking at your position at the time and now I can consider suspending the immediate prison sentence.

‘Considering your age and inexperience at the time, considering the position in which you found yourself working alone on a Category A wing at night.

‘The prisoner who delivered that threat was an expert at it.