A former probation officer has been sentenced to jail after CCTV footage revealed she had been involved in a secret relationship with a convicted murderer. The shocking footage showed the woman kissing the prisoner during a jail visit, exposing what prosecutors described as an “inappropriate” relationship that crossed serious professional boundaries.
Bethany Dent-Reynolds, 27, has now been handed an eight-month prison sentence after becoming romantically involved with prisoner Kieran Robinson. Robinson is currently serving a 23-year sentence for the fatal stabbing of teenager Donnell Rhule, carried out alongside his cousin Sean Robinson in July 2020, The Sun reports.
The court heard that Dent-Reynolds and Robinson first met when she was working at HMP Belmarsh in South East London, where he was being held. However, their relationship reportedly only turned romantic after she moved into a new role as a probation officer at HMP Brixton, another prison nearly an hour away.
According to reports presented at Woolwich Crown Court, Robinson was the first to contact Dent-Reynolds through social media. After that, she began visiting him regularly in prison. Their communication quickly escalated, with the pair exchanging sexually explicit messages and phone calls.
The court was also told that Dent-Reynolds accessed restricted records linked to Robinson’s murder case through a probation computer system. She then allegedly discussed the information with him, including claiming that his co-defendants “all stuck it on you”.
Even after Robinson was transferred to HMP Lowdham Grange, a Category B prison in Nottinghamshire, around three hours north of London, Dent-Reynolds continued to visit him. CCTV footage from one of those visits captured the two embracing and sharing a kiss before sitting down on adjacent sofas. They were also seen holding hands while talking, even as another person approached them, the Liverpool Echo reports.
During sentencing, prosecutor Sam Willis told the court: “In a nutshell, while working for His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMS), the defendant engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a serving prisoner.”
He also explained that investigators downloaded and examined Dent-Reynolds’ mobile phone, which revealed “numerous WhatsApp messages between the defendant and Kieran Robinson”. These included “messages of a sexual nature, images and a message from Robinson asking her for a ‘favour’.”
The prosecutor added that she told Robinson, “everyone had prepared statements except for you,” before another message was read out in court: “When I was reading it I was like oh my God this is f***ing ridiculous. Yeah, it makes me angry and upset. I don’t know, like, it’s a mix of emotions, I just want you out.”
Defending Dent-Reynolds, Chantelle Stocks argued that her client had previously been of “impeccable good character”. She also stressed: “This is not a case where there has been any suggestion of in-person physical sexual contact between the pair.”
She added: “For the most part they exchanged sweet nothings that had minimal impact.” Despite the defence, the court ruled the relationship was a serious breach of trust, and Dent-Reynolds was sentenced to eight months behind bars.
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