A former prison officer accused of having a personal relationship with a teenage inmate and taking cannabis into prison has denied the allegations.
Ruta Indrasiunaite is accused of having a relationship with 17-year-old Royston Perry at HMP Cookham Wood, a Young Offenders’ Institution in Rochester, between April and November 2021.
The 38-year-old appeared before magistrates in Sevenoaks on July 31, after being charged with three offences.
Indrasiunaite, of Pitcairn Road, Mitcham, Greater London, is accused of misconduct in public office, bringing a prohibited article to a prison and taking a restricted document out of the establishment the same year.
It’s alleged she engaged in a personal relationship with Perry, who is now 21, between April 29, 2021 and November 30, the same year.
She is said to have brought cannabis into the establishment and is alleged to have taken a restricted document out of the prison, namely a list of approved PIN telephone numbers for a prisoner, between the same dates.
She pleaded not guilty to all the offences when she appeared at the court in Morewood Close, via the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) from her home in Mitcham.
She had been granted permission to appear via CVP and not in person because she had just had a baby.
The court heard two out of three of the offences were indictable only, and so all three cases needed to be sent to the crown court to be dealt with.
Perry also appeared in the dock at the same court during a separate hearing via CVP from the prison he is being held in after he was charged with three offences.
These were two counts of conspiring with another to bring prohibited articles into the prison, namely drugs and mobile phones, and bringing a prohibited article into the prison, namely cannabis, between the same period.
He didn’t give any indication of pleas in relation to his charges and the cases were also sent to the crown court to be dealt with.
Indrasiunaite was granted bail until then, but Perry, who is currently being held in HMP Bristol, are both expected to appear at Maidstone Crown Court for their preliminary hearings on August 29.
Indrasiunaite was granted bail while Perry is currently being held in HMP Bristol. Both are expected to appear at Maidstone Crown Court for their preliminary hearings on August 29.
