It’s a story so wild as to be almost unbelievable. Kerri Pegg was a ‘rising star’ of the prison service, promoted to governor at the open jail HMP Kirkham just six years after joining as a graduate trainee. And yet she was also in a relationship with a prisoner, Anthony Saunderson, serving ten years for drug offences.
Saunderson was an inmate at Kirkham, and Pegg was ‘known to spend a lot of time in her office’ with him. Then, in October 2018, she broke prison rules to approve Saunderson’s release on temporary licence (ROTL). It seems that Saunderson was very grateful, gifting Pegg a Mercedes car. Despite Pegg claiming she had done nothing wrong, when police searched the governor’s home, they found a toothbrush and flip-flops with Saunderson’s DNA on it.
It’s very rare for a prison governor to face justice, no matter what they’ve done
Today the former prison governor was found guilty on two counts of misconduct in public office.
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