Wakefield Prison nurse guilty of affair with rapist

  • Published
Karen Cosford
Image caption,
Karen Cosford denied having a sexual relationship with McBride

A prison nurse has been found guilty of having an affair with a convicted rapist at a high security jail.

Karen Cosford, 47, had sex with lifer Brian McBride at Wakefield Prison.

A trial at Leeds Crown Court heard she sent him intimate text messages on a smuggled mobile phone and wrote him a love letter.

Cosford, of Normanton, was found guilty of misconduct through engaging in a sexual relationship with an inmate. She will be sentenced on Monday.

She was also found guilty of failing to tell prison authorities McBride had a mobile phone, and bringing in top-ups on behalf of the prisoner.

The jury heard Cosford performed a sex act on McBride while she was on duty as two colleagues, Carolyn Falloon and Jacqueline Flynn, guarded his cell.

Husband told

On another occasion Falloon caught her having sex with the inmate in the medical unit but failed to report it, the court was told.

Cosford, who worked in the jail's medical centre, had denied misconduct, claiming McBride raped her then bribed and intimidated her so she would not report it.

During the four-week trial she said he threatened to kill her and her family if she told anybody about their relationship.

The relationship was exposed when McBride's cell was searched and he told Cosford's husband Darrie, a prison officer, he had been having an affair with his wife.

Falloon, 50, of Wakefield, and Flynn, 46, from Pontefract, were found guilty of failing to report the relationship and not reporting McBride's mobile phone.

Falloon was also found guilty of supplying McBride with mobile top-ups.

One of their colleagues, health care officer Kevin Wilson, 56, also of Normanton, earlier pleaded guilty to failing to notify authorities of Cosford's relationship, failing to tell authorities McBride had a mobile phone and supplying McBride with a sim card.

Falloon, Flynn and Wilson will be sentenced along with Cosford on Monday. They were all released on bail until the hearing.

Prison health care worker David Sunderland, 49, of Wakefield, denied a misconduct charge of not reporting McBride's mobile phone and was found not guilty.

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.