Corrupt Liverpool prison worker jailed for smuggling drugs and sending sex texts to inmates

A corrupt prison watchdog boss who billed herself “the prisoners’ Deliveroo” has been jailed for five years after admitting sending sexual messages to a killer inmate and smuggling drugs. Helen Spree, 63, was the head of the independent monitoring board (IMB) for HMP Liverpool when she engaged in illicit chats with prisoners over a 20-month period. Spree was said to have become besotted with Dylan Westall, 35, who was serving a life sentence for manslaughter for shooting a teenager in the head. Police who searched her home in August 2021 found two custom-made pillows with Westall’s face and a gun embossed on them, Liverpool crown court heard. She also had a tattoo on her chest of a bumblebee holding a love heart, with the word “Masterpiece” underneath – a name used for her by Westall in a thank-you card discovered by officers. Spree, a mother-of-two, was on Tuesday jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office, conspiracy to supply cannabis and conspiracy to convey prohibited items into prison. Undated handout photo of a card from Helen Spree to Dylan Westall. Photograph: NWROCU/PA Her suspension by the prisons watchdog was first revealed by the Guardian in October 2021. The court heard that Spree had enjoyed a successful career as a sales director for a global firm and started volunteering in 2017 as a member of an IMB, which scrutinises conditions in prisons in England and Wales. …