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A prison officer has been suspended for sending raunchy texts to a recently-released female inmate.

Matt Bowles sent X-rated messages and a picture of his privates to raven-haired Luccia Amerecco after she was freed halfway through a six-year stretch for robbery.

The pair had swapped numbers when they grew close while she was banged up on his wing at Peterborough prison in Cambridgeshire.

And just hours after Luccia was released, Bowles messaged her saying he would ring her when he finished his shift.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Soon the officer, who had lodged a Facebook friend request a week before she was freed on April 10, moved on to sending sexual requests.

Some of Bowles’ messages – which have been seen by the Sunday People – contain language that cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

One of his texts, littered with grammar and spelling mistakes, read: “I deffently want start seeing you... your so cute.”

And another, pleading for a video, said: “Do 10 second vid it be so hot.” In one message Bowles even asked Luccia to go on the Pill ­because the “last thing we want is you getting pregnant that quickly”.

Luccia, 29, of Lough-borough, Leics, initially sent messages and a picture back. But she cut off contact when she thought the officer was taking advantage of his position. She said: “I feel groomed and I can see why it is an abuse of power. People will say I’ve been stupid, but I feel like I’ve been abused.”

Personal contact of any kind between prison officers and ex-inmates is strictly forbidden by the Ministry of Justice. Officers who begin sexual relationships can face misconduct probes.

Describing how she got mixed up with Bowles, who is thought to be 23 and from Lowestoft in Suffolk, Luccia said: “It started when he began flirting with me. I flirted back because it was exciting to get a bit of attention.

“I liked him and I’d thought it could develop into something nice. Straight away when I got released he started pestering me to send him dirty pictures and videos. It really upset me.”

Luccia, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2014 after she, her then-boyfriend and a second accomplice robbed a man of £280.

She has since changed her name by deed poll and insists she used her time in prison to gain qualifications.

A spokesman for HMP Peterborough said: “We take this matter extremely seriously. A prison officer has been suspended pending an investigation.”

A separate probe is going on into claims that staff at the prison, run by private firm Sodexo, were using a secret Facebook group which included posts about attacking inmates.