A former prison officer who hid her love affair with a convicted murderer has been sentenced to jail after detectives uncovered her relationship and bizarre AI wedding pictures.
Stephanie Heaps, now known as Stephanie Ramsden, did not declare that she was in an intimate relationship with Leon 'Layton' Ramsden, 35, who is currently serving a life sentence for murder – while she worked at HMP Wymott in Leyland.
She then joined Greater Manchester Police as a police constable in Bolton where she again did not declare any links to criminals. However, a Lancashire Police investigation found her links to an organised crime group – associated with Ramsden – which was involved in money laundering, drug dealing, and a conspiracy to burgle an address in St Helens in November 2019.
The pair married after she left Greater Manchester Police. A bizarre AI-generated image of the pair tying the knot was posted on social media.
'Brazen Disregard' for Standards as Police and Prison Officer
Detective chief inspector Jennifer Adams, of our Anti-Corruption Unit, said: "During our investigation, we were shocked by the actions of Stephanie Heaps and her brazen disregard for the standards required for both her roles in the police and the prison service.
"As soon as we were made aware of Heaps' potential relationship with Ramsden, we conducted a number of detailed enquiries to ensure that the maximum amount of evidence about her offending could be collated so she could be held accountable for the full extent of her crimes.
"It's clear Heaps should never be trusted to serve the public, and it is testament to the investigation team that she was only in uniform for a matter of months before she was taken away from frontline duties for good and now put rightly behind bars along with Ramsden and his associates."
Ramsden Sentenced to 4.3 Years
She was sentenced to four years and three months at Bolton Crown Court on Thursday after she admitted several offences, including misconduct in public office and intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. Ramsden was sentenced to five years and seven months, to run concurrently with his murder sentence.
