Relatives of prison guard who had sex with inmate speak out for first time | UK News
A prison officer who had sex with an inmate took part in the sordid act in the ‘pursuit of online fame and fortune’, her relatives have said.
Linda De Sousa Abreu faces jail after admitting misconduct charges.
She was fired from her job at HMP Wandsworth after a video of her illicit encounter with convicted burglar Linton Weirich in his cell went viral last month.
Relatives of the married mum-of-one have now spoken for the first time about the impact the case has had on their lives.
De Sousa Abreu joined the prison service months after she and her husband, Nathan, appeared Channel 4 show Open House: The Great Sex Experiment.
The show, aired last year, explored the lifestyle of swingers and the 30-year-old told viewers: ‘Opening up our relationship has allowed us to form a deeper connection with each other.’
She also has an OnlyFans account and the bio reads: ‘I am a happily married sexy Latina who wants to share hot content with you.’
But her older sister, Andreina, has revealed she warned De Sousa Abreu not to ‘mix her lifestyle with her work’ – advice she ignored. ‘I found out she worked in a prison in January. That’s when I spoke to her and said “Don’t be stupid.”
‘I was brutally honest with her about her behaviours. I spoke to her previously about her lifestyle. I should have been harsher,’ she added.
‘We are all make mistakes and sometimes impulse can get the better of us. But it is probably one of the poorest decisions she has made,’ one said.
Her father-in-law went further still, adding: ‘This is something that happened where she was on her own. She was the person in charge and needed to take responsibility. He [her husband] didn’t know she was doing anything. She’s an idiot.’
He declined to comment on the current state of the couple’s marriage.
Her jailbird lover Weinrich’s relationships have also suffered. His girlfriend, who is due to give birth to his child in September, was so upset by the video she required hospital treatment.
She has been to visit him in prison recently but ‘doesn’t talk about’ his fling, a source said.
The 37-year-old, who has been moved to another jail and will not face police action, ‘regrets what he did’, his sister said.
‘His girlfriend is a good woman, a decent girl, she added.
But she laid the blame on the X-rated encounter on ‘corrupt’ officers who smuggle mobile phones into jail and De Sousa Abreu, who had ‘done it’ to promote her OnlyFans page.
Weinrich’s mother, Sheila, also insists the fault lies with the former prison guard. ‘If they’re offering it on a plate, then the guy’s gonna take it,’ she said.
But the case raises serious concerns about the safety of female officers in Britain’s jails.
‘Prisons are predatory places,’ said Prof Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and security adviser.
‘This incident will have been seen by thousands of prisoners thousands of times and the commodification of female officers as ‘meat’ will put them at active risk.’
De Sousa Abreu, of Fulham, south-west London, will be sentenced in November.