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Erica Whittingham, 33, helped her inmate lover Michael Seddon escape from HMP Sudbury and met him at least eight times over the next six months
A female prison officer helped a dangerous robber escape from jail in Derbyshire after falling in love and forming a relationship with him behind bars.
Derby Crown Court heard how Erica Whittingham was waiting in her car outside HMP Sudbury and then drove Michael Seddon away after he left a decoy in his cell to trick guards.
For the next six months she remained in contact with her lover, meeting him in hotels around England and buying him gifts such as clothes while he was on the run.
Whittingham said that she had fallen in love with the violent robber who had been part of a gang that tied up and battered an elderly farmer. He was caught after he formed a relationship with another woman.
Now the 33-year-old will return to prison as an inmate rather than an officer, having been jailed for three years.
Recorder Balraj Bhattia QC said: 'You knew what you were doing was wrong and I am satisfied you were complicit in his escape.
'You were responsible for driving him away knowing he was an escaped prisoner.
'You were complicit in him being unlawfully at large for a long period.'
Daren Samat,
