Prison governor who had relationship with gang boss jailed for nine years after convict bought her £12k Mercedes
16 May 2025, 16:39 | Updated: 16 May 2025, 18:28
A former prison governor who had a relationship with a drug gang boss has been jailed for nine years for misconduct in a public office.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Kerri Pegg, 42, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of possession of criminal property.
It comes after she accepted a £12,000 Mercedes car from Anthony Saunderson, paid for in drugs.
She approved Saunderson for temporary early release from HMP Kirkham, Lancashire, the facility where she was governor.
Liverpool crime boss Saunderson is serving 35 years behind bars.
Read more: Organised crime groups and people smugglers are being graded as low priority - this can’t continue
He was released from prison thanks to Pegg in May 2019 and in early 2020, and was using an Encrochat encrypted mobile phone, used by serious, organised criminals to send messages and secretly communicate.
Divorcee Pegg had been "naive and gullible", a court heard, with Saunderson allegedly taking advantage.
Judge Graham Knowles KC said: "You betrayed the public's trust, you betrayed the prison service."
Detective Superintendent Claire McGuire, who was investigating Pegg, said: "The fact that Kerri was a prison governor really raised the stakes in this case because every member of staff that works in a prison is aware of the set of professional standards behaviour they have to adhere to around inappropriate relationships with prisoners; serving prisoners and previous prisoners.
"The fact that [Pegg] has gone beyond those lines that have been set... is of the utmost seriousness"
Pegg was seen as a "rising star" in the Prison Service, quickly climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in six years, Preston Crown Court previously heard.
She was arrested at her home on November 19 2020, with police finding expensive items of designer clothes.
They also found a toothbrush and a pair of flip flops at her flat.
Both items were found to have mixed DNA samples on them, matching the DNA of Pegg and Saunderson.
