Jail affair at Midland prison sparked by husband's fling

Julie Turton, from Hembs Crescent, Hamstead, is today starting a two years and eight month sentence after being jailed yesterday. During the 54-year-old's sentencing hearing, her defence solicitor Mr Jonathan Parker told Birmingham Crown Court her offending began after learning of the upsetting news.

As a tearful Turton looked on, he said: "For the first time in her life she felt particularly isolated, her self-esteem was low, she was emotionally vulnerable, and she was susceptible to the advances of those inmates who she admits having illicit contact with."

Inmate Danny King moved to HMP Birmingham in 2011, where he met Turton who was at that time the first line manager for the prison's 'M' Wing. The two hit it off and started a relationship that eventually became a sexual one, spending hundreds of hours on the telephone with each other and sending dozens of text messages.

See also: Revealed: Prison officer's affair with inmate at Midland jail

Turton was also in regular, illegal contact with two other serving inmates, Hamza Islam and her co-defendant Arteef Hussain, 25, and from Stoke Heath Prison.

Between her and Islam, to whom she also illegally delivered a stereo system, there were more than 1,000 calls or texts between December 16, 2012, and May 17, 2013. There were just over 150 communications between her and Hussain, between March 16 and May 9 last year. Prosecutor Mr Robert Price told the court: "The use of mobile phones taken into prison has significant security implications. The use by a prison inmate is a criminal offence.

"They can be frequently used in prison for the furtherance of criminal offences." Turton was also sentenced for supplying cannabis to Hussain's wife Shelah Arif although she claimed she had been told a package she picked up contained food.

Hussain was sentenced to 12 months' jail, to begin at the end of his current sentence, after pleading guilty to encouraging Turton to commit an offence.