Prison director tells police he's fallen in love with woman who was jailed for luring Jewish man to his death

A French prison chief and a warden have been arrested after allegedly falling for a young woman jailed for luring a Jewish man to his torture and death at the hands of a group called the Gang of Barbarians.

The director of the women's prison at Versailles was accused of giving the 21-year-old woman – whose role in the murder of Ilan Halimi five years ago shocked France – money and special privileges in return for sexual relations.

Florent Goncalves, 41, told police he had fallen in love with Emma Arbabzadeh, and wanted to rebuild his life with her when she was released on parole after serving around half of her nine-year sentence.

Arbabzadeh gained notoriety as a femme fatale in 2006 after she led Halimi, 23, into a honeytrap on the orders of the gang leader, Youssouf Fofana, who believed that because his victim was Jewish his family would pay a sizeable ransom for his release.

Arbabzadeh was promised €5,000 to charm Halimi into meeting her for a coffee when he finished work in a telephone shop in Paris. He was then snatched by gang members, bundled into the boot of a car and driven to an empty apartment on a run-down housing estate in the suburbs. There, he was stripped naked, handcuffed, tied up, gagged and tortured for 24 days, while Fofana demanded money from the Halimi family.

After more than three weeks, Fofana stabbed Halimi, doused him in petrol and set fire to him, finally dumping him, barely alive, next to railway tracks near Paris. He died on the way to hospital.

In all, 27 members of the gang were investigated for the murder – 18 men and nine women – and 19 were jailed. Arbabzadeh was given nine years and Fofana was jailed for life.

In court Arbabzadeh, who was born in Iran and arrived in France aged 11 with her mother, a political refugee, said she ensnared Halimi as "a favour to Fofana". Afterwards she wrote to the victim's family saying: "I suffer so much for having hurt you so much."

Her alleged relationship with the prison chief came to light in November during a routine inspection. Several fellow prisoners were said to have complained to inspectors that Arbabzadeh was being given favours, specifically access to sought-after prison jobs.

"At the time the other prisoners had no idea of her relations with the director," a police source told Le Parisien. The newspaper reported that the young woman had "seduced" the director and a 36-year-old warden to obtain parcels, money and telephone cards.

"The director explained he fell in love," a police source said. "He said he was waiting for the time when she would be released on parole ... to rebuild his life with this girl."

A prison source told Le Parisien she had used her charm to get what she wanted. "She makes them lose their heads," said the source.

The director and warden are under investigation for "illicitly giving a prisoner forbidden items", including money, parcels, telephone calling cards and sim cards. Arbabzadeh is being investigated for receiving the goods.

A spokesman for the French prison service said the case was "extremely rare".