Criminal 'took advantage of naïve prison governor'

A prison governor who allegedly began a relationship with a drug-dealing gang boss was "green and stupid", a court heard.

Kerri Pegg, 42, had been "naïve and gullible" and taken advantage of by major Liverpool crime figure Anthony Saunderson, Preston Crown Court heard.

She is on trial accused of misconduct in a public office after allegedly helping him get day-release from HMP Kirkham in Lancashire.

She is also accused of accepting a £12,000 Mercedes car from Saunderson, which he paid for in drugs, a jury was told.

She was seen as a "rising star" in the Prison Service, climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in six years.

But Ms Pegg is accused of beginning a relationship with Saunderson, known to criminal associates as "Jesse Pinkman", the meth-dealing character from TV's Breaking Bad.

When police raided her apartment they found size 10 Hugo Boss flip flops and a toothbrush carrying Saunderson's DNA.

Andrew Alty, defending, in his closing speech to the jury, said Ms Pegg was "green and stupid" but had led an "unblemished life", never having been in trouble with police before, and now working for a homeless charity.

He added: "You are also entitled to take into account Saunderson and his character, who I suggest is a manipulative and dishonest person who has fooled many people along the way before he ended up back in prison.

"I suggest Kerri Pegg is one of those.

"Kerri Pegg is naïve, gullible, put prisoners above principles and common sense, has been taken advantage of by a far more sophisticated, odious individual, Anthony Saunderson."

Prosecutors allege that as well as becoming personally involved with a convict and accepting a car from him, Ms Pegg lived beyond her means and got into debt, with three county court judgments (CCJs) against her.

She was said to be duty-bound to declare them, but did not.

Ms Pegg denies all the offences and tearfully told jurors she had been "incredibly stupid", but did not think she had done anything wrong.

Police seized the Mercedes C class saloon outside her home when investigators swooped in November 2019.

Inside her apartment in Orrell, Wigan, along with the flip flops and toothbrush later used to gather DNA evidence, they found designer clothes, shoes, handbags and jewellery.

Saunderson was given a 10-year jail term in November 2014 for drugs conspiracy and money laundering.

In June 2017 he was moved to HMP Kirkham, and later Ms Pegg, a governor there, is alleged to have broken prison rules by signing off on his temporary release for time out of custody, without proper authority.

After his release from jail Saunderson became involved in another conspiracy to supply drugs, and was later identified as the boss of a drug gang going by the name of Jesse Pinkman on the EncroChat encrypted mobile phone network, used by organised crime gangs.

At the same time, in July 2019, the court heard newly-released Saunderson was contracted by some prisons to run a project called Breaking Alcohol and Drug Dependency (BADD).

Ms Pegg, at the time the regional official co-ordinating drug strategy in six prisons in the north west of England, and "passionate" about the BADD project, thought of Saunderson not as an ex-inmate but a "colleague", and she said this explained her contact with him as he was working on the project.

Later, when police cracked the EncroChat system, it revealed Saunderson's drug dealing and his alleged relationship with Ms Pegg.

Barbara-Louise Webster, prosecuting, in her closing speech to the jury, said: "We say they were in a relationship.

"The mix of DNA, both hers and his on the flip flops and the toothbrush, are very telling.

"They must have spent considerable time together and she must have suspected that vehicle was from criminal conduct.

"Kerri Pegg had a promising future until she started to play outside the rules.

"Anthony Saunderson was her downfall."

The trial continues.

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