A 23-year-old prison officer has told a court how a convicted robber she's accused of having a relationship with threatened to stab her and demanded she prove her loyalty to him.
Threats and demands behind bars
Isabelle Dale is facing allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with inmate Shahid Sharif while working at HMP Coldingley in Surrey. The court heard this week that Dale claimed Sharif, who was three years into a twelve-year sentence for robbery, forced her to undergo cosmetic surgery and purchase a ring as a token of her fidelity.
"I bought the ring as I was instructed to by Mr Sharif to prove my loyalty to him," Dale explained to jurors. "He threatened to stab me. He told me he hated me and wanted me to die."
Drug smuggling allegations and previous encounters
The court previously heard that Dale allegedly helped Sharif smuggle envelopes laced with spice into his new prison after he was transferred to HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. When questioned by her defence barrister Syam Soni about whether she wondered what was in the envelopes, Dale replied: "I wondered, but I wouldn't have dared to question him."
Dale also revealed that Sharif had confessed to sexual encounters with other prison officers in the past. "He disclosed to me that at HMP Coldingley he had been given oral sex by a previous prison officer," she told the jury. "He told me it was investigated but that there was no further action because there was no evidence."
Pattern of control and fear
The prison officer described how Sharif's controlling behaviour extended to demanding she purchase a sex toy because he believed she was having sex with other people. Dale, who had originally wanted to become a police officer, said she took the prison officer job to gain experience but found the environment challenging from the start.
"I felt that it became very apparent from the beginning that the prisoners had more respect for me than the staff did," she told the court when describing her experience at HMP Coldingley.
The trial also heard about Dale's communications with another prisoner, Connor Money, who she is alleged to have had a relationship with. When asked why she engaged in conversations with him despite prisoners being banned from having mobile phones, Dale said: "When he first messaged me it was never anything malicious. He was somebody I felt supported by."
She admitted she didn't feel comfortable reporting that Money had a mobile phone to prison authorities. The trial continues as more evidence is presented about the alleged relationships and smuggling plot within the prison system.
