Disgraced prison officer "disgusted" by relationship with convicted rapist after avoiding time behind bars for jail romance
19 May 2025, 15:37
A female prison officer who fell in love with a convicted rapist says she is "disgusted and ashamed" by her relationship with the "exceptionally dangerous" inmate.
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Cherri-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, avoided prison on Wednesday after admitting to misconduct in a public office for her relationship with sex offender Bradley Trengrove, 31, who is serving a 13 year sentence for raping a woman and having sexual activity with a child in 2013 and 2014.
She became infatuated with the inmate whilst working at HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset, and had sex with him up to 40 times during their six-month relationship, which began in August 2022, a court was told.
The pair's romps would take place in prison workshops when nobody was around and led to Saddington falling pregnant in November, but she lost the baby eight weeks later.
Their fling came to an end when officers caught the mother-of-three attempting to smuggle in an empty Calpol syringe in her bra when visiting Trengrove at HMP Channings Wood in Devon.
She planned to 'artificially inseminate' herself with Trengrove's sperm, which he had wrapped in cling film for her, and fall pregnant again, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.
Despite pleading guilty, Saddington was handed a suspended sentence because she was wheelchair-bound after suffering a spinal stroke following her crimes.
After avoiding jail, the female prison guard admitted to MailOnline that she knew Trengrove was a sex offender because she worked at a sex offenders' prison.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Saddington explained why she began the relationship with the convict, saying: "I wanted a stable life. That's what I wanted. I don't know why I even entertained the idea of Bradley. I think I was just looking for someone to support me. I wanted that stable life that I wasn't getting anywhere else."
Saddington started working as a prison officer at The Verne in July 2019 and hoped to "go in and make a difference".
However, she soon realised "that's not what the prison service is about" and struggled to work in a men's jail.
Furthermore, her relationship with the father-of-two of her children ended, leaving her a 'broken person' and 'homeless'.
Read more: Criminal records stolen in 'significant' cyber attack on Legal Aid agency
Before Trengove was transferred to the jail, his future lover was given a written warning in 2020 for concerns over her professionalism and interaction with prisoners.
Her behaviour led to her probationary period being extended.
Then, in January 2022, Trengrove was transferred to the the prison and began a relationship with Austin-Saddington in around August of the same year.
"Things were very difficult," she said. "I didn't have anybody to turn to or talk to. I just wasn't in a very good place or a stable mind at the time and Bradley came along."
Saddington claimed Trengrove used "manipulative behaviour" to seduce her, telling the prison officer that he had been framed over the rape and sexual activity with a minor, and would be out in three months.
She added: "There were a lot of feelings involved at the time. He would come to me and would say 'I'm going to build a house for us, I've spoken to my family, I've got a plot of land. Your children are going to have a home.
"'When I get out in a few months like this is all going to be over like we're not going to have anything to worry about.'"
But after the police informed Saddington of her lover's crimes, she "did not believe" he was innocent and insisted he was "a very dangerous man".
To enable them to communicate when Austin-Saddington wasn't working, the mother-of-three smuggled a mobile phone into the Category C facility for her lover.
She was so in love with Trengove that she saved his name on her mobile as "husband to be" and even agreed to get pregnant again with him, the court was told.
The prison officer sent Trengrove a number of gushing messages during their relationship, which were read out to the court by prosecutor Robert Bryan.
In them, the defendant stated that Trengrove was "the one' and that she would love him "til my last breath".
Mr Bryan said: "He [Trengrove] said they had unprotected sex 30-40 times. She told him in November she was pregnant with his baby. He encouraged her to be less risky but she said that would mean less opportunity to meet."
But Saddington claimed she could "count on my hands how many times we had sex" and alleged Trengrove removed her coil - an IUD which prevents pregnancy by releasing copper into the womb - to enable her to fall pregnant.
In March 2023, Trengrove was moved to HMP Channings Wood, but this did not deter Austin-Sadddington from keeping their affair going.
When she visited him on May 26 under a false name, officers arrested her after finding she had an empty syringe in her bra when carrying out a pat down search.
They also found that she was not wearing any underwear for that visit.
Speaking about this incident, Saddington claimed Trengrove had told her that morning over the phone that he "wanted a baby" and was "going to kill himself" if she couldn't give him that.
When he told her to "bring a syringe in" and asked her to inseminate herself, she said she was "absolutely disgusted".
"I took the syringe in just so I could show him I had it so he didn't do anything to himself. It wasn't so I could carry out what he planned," she explained.
Two months after she was arrested, Saddington started a new relationship with another man, who she would eventually marry.
In February 2024, she was left left wheelchair-bound after suffering a spinal stroke, which is why the judge ruled she should be spared jail.
Saddington admitted misconduct in a public office and conveying a mobile phone into a prison.
She was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months with 25 rehabilitation activity days.
Trengrove from Cramborne, Cornwall, admitted encouraging or assisting her in the misconduct, having a mobile phone inside prison and using it for 'unauthorised transmission of images or sound'.
He was given another two years and three months to serve on top of his 13 year extended jail sentence.
After the case, Detective Inspector Alastair Quinn, of the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU), said: "We are committed to working with our region's prisons to root out corruption and will be looking to take similar action against other prisoners who seek to corrupt prison staff.
"Clearly, by entering into a relationship with a prisoner, Austin-Saddington was herself also committing a serious offence and undermining the already challenging work her former colleagues do."
