'Being caught having sex in prison with an officer is torture - I would know'

Banged Up star Tony Gooch says he had a six-month affair with a prison officer whilst locked up - and while it ended badly for the pair of them, he has no regrets

A former criminal has lifted the lid on what it's like to be caught up in a fling with an officer behind bars - and the consequences of being caught.

Officer-inmate relationships may seem shocking, but Tony Gooch argues they are far more common than people realise. The 42-year-old became embroiled in crime from as young as 15 after getting in with the wrong crowd.

However when he became a new dad 14 years ago, it was a wake-up call for the ex-gang member to break free from his criminal past and start a new legitimate life, which he describes as like being 'reincarnated'. The now dad-of-two, and father to three stepchildren, spent a total of nine and a half years locked away, where he was in and out of prison for violent crimes including theft, burglary and assault.

Tony, from Surrey, wasn't surprised to see a case like Linda De Sousa Abreu's in the news, as he too claims to have had a romance with an officer whilst inside. Back in July, De Sousa Abreu pleaded guilty to misconduct after having sex with an inmate in a cell at HMP Wandsworth in south London. The 30-year-old mother was charged after a video of the activity went viral on social media.

After reading about the incident, Tony questioned why anyone would film it - as the first unwritten rule about having a relationship inside is not to let anyone find out, he warns. Meanwhile, Zara Aleena's murderer yesterday refused to appear in court for a hearing over an alleged "inappropriate relationship" with a prison workshop instructor.

Jordan McSweeney, 31, failed to appear via video link at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday because he "can't be bothered", staff at HMP Long Lartin told the court. The defendant was due to attend alongside Hayley Jones, 33, who has been charged with acting in a way "which amounted to an abuse of the public's trust".

Tony is convinced Ms Jones would have known exactly who McSweeney was. "Any member of staff, any probation officer, any nurse, any officer, they know an inmate in the prison system is dishonest by nature. The first thing they'll do is Google that person's name and learn information about their offences."

The former jailmate claims having a relationship with a female prison officer or any other member of staff in the prison is just the same as starting a romance on the outside - but it comes with 'tortuous' repercussions. At the age of around 25 whilst inside at HMP Highpoint, he took a liking to one of his officers - said to be in her thirties - and this blossomed into a six-month relationship.

"I got caught up in what they called an improper relationship with a female member of staff. It happens," Tony told the Mirror. "It's no different inside than on the outside.

"You could be in a fish and chip shop and if you see someone that you're attracted to, and it's reciprocated, then something will happen. Someone will instigate it and make the first move, only difference is that the officer should have some professionalism."

Opening up about his jail fling, Tony added: "The minute we locked eyes on each other, you could just tell there was something there." He said they started flirting and it progressed from there.

Tony claims to have had intercourse with the staff member - who according to him, was married at the time - on several occasions. Due to his job as a food server, he had to come out of his cell earlier than other inmates to get the meals out.

The dad, who trained to become an HGV driver once released the final time, admitted: "We would get a quick 10 minutes together. We squeezed it in when we could." Tony says other people started to notice how much time they were spending together, despite her being stationed on another wing.

Tony said they were both fully aware of the risks, despite there being no conversation between the pair about it. "It's blatantly obvious, you know it shouldn't be happening," he explained.

The reformed gang member claims an anonymous source had clocked on to their intimacy and as a result, he was forced into segregation for 16 weeks while the officer in question was struck off, he says. He was then moved to HMP Wayland as a result.

"What the public doesn't realise is that your life is made hell as an inmate too," he asserted. "You're going to get put in segregation for a long time, you're going to get shipped to another prison because you're deemed as a security risk - they don't know what that female officer has told you about the inner workings of the prison.

"It goes on to your record as well. It can cause a prisoner a lot, a lot of problems. It can jeopardise a de-cat, where you can be put into a lower category prison so it's more secure [a Category D prison]. For an officer, they're immediately dismissed."

Whilst in segregation, Tony had to have an 'algorithm' signed off every week by the governor, priest and doctor. Without the signatures, you're deemed 'unfit' for segregation, he says.

He claims four officers attended his cell each time the door was unlocked, and his mattress and other belongings were removed, leaving him with just four walls and a cardboard desk. "You go insane. There is no one to have a conversation with, it's just torture."

An inmate even told him through the cell window to fake a suicide to get kicked out of the isolation, he claims. After 16 weeks of segregation, Tony got so desperate that he crafted a fake suicide plot when he knew officers were due to come in to give him his food. He was then moved into a strip cell for a week, watched by an officer. Tony then got moved to HMP Weighland in Norfolk, where he was then released in 2008.

Despite all of this, he doesn't regret the relationship. "There are certain things you have to go without in prison and one of them is sex. When you go through the prison system, everything in your life you hold dear is taken away," the ex-gang member, who featured in Channel 4's Banged Up alongside celebrities, explained.

"It's extremely difficult to make the transition. If something you miss dearly is then offered to you on a plate, you're more than likely to take it. You have to be a very strong-willed person not to. I know people who have been married for years and years and have been propositioned by staff and are taken instantly.

"If you're doing a long prison sentence, you might never get the offer again. And it's a long time to go without having relationships with women. And it's not just the sex - you miss cuddling a woman, kissing a woman, because that again is limited on visits. So it's sort of having that, that intimate relationship that you're used to outside and what adds to it is that it brings out that naughty boy side of you - you shouldn't be doing it and you're doing it.

"And you sort of realise that if any of the inmates in that prison had the same opportunity as you, they would be doing it and they're not and you are. So it sort of adds to the intrigue."

Mr Gooch, who has built his own film production ART, with his latest film Superstar - The Making of An Icon available on Amazon Prime, argues intimacy with a partner can be possible during visitation hours, depending on an inmate's privileges. There are three levels: basic, standard and enhanced.

While regular visits involve sitting in a room alongside 100 other cellmates, a convict with enhanced privileges can see their loved ones in a room with just 20 others. "It's a bit more intimate," Tony reflected.

"I've had girls visit me on those visits and I've managed to do things with them... Obviously you can't have sex, but you can do other things when the officer isn't looking. There are opportunities but it's potluck."

Tony argues that sexual frustration among inmates is only natural, and raised how pornographic material, such as magazines, was banned in prison in the '80s. He claims prisoners now access material by smuggling in USB sticks containing porn, which can then be plugged into the TVs, creating new revenue for inmates.

The only way to solve the problem of inmate-prisoner relationships, Tony says, is to ban female officers from being alone with them. "As long as there are females around males, there will always be an occasion when two individuals are attracted to each other and something's going to happen," he asserts.

"They could increase the prison sentences for female staff as a deterrent but look at British society as a whole - they give out 30 years for murder and people still kill so I don't think that would work. And it's not just officers, I know people who have had relationships with prison nurses, receptionists, probation officers. It can happen anywhere."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Misconduct in office is not tolerated and we are doing more than ever to catch the minority who break the rules including bolstering our Counter-Corruption Unit and strengthening our vetting processes.

"The overwhelming majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest and it would be wrong to question their professionalism as a direct result of the small number who aren't."