• [Daily Mirror Icon]
• News
• UK News
• Leicester

Prison officer's first romance was with drug dealer inmate she told 'I love you'

Jahvine Kwamba, a former prison guard, has been jailed for eight months after having a relationship with convicted drug dealer Roberts Sokolovs while he was an inmate at HMP Fosse Way

[2_JAJ_TEM_070826Court_007JPG.jpg]

View 2 Images

Jahvine Kwamba arrives at Leicester Crown Court for sentencing(Image: Joseph Raynor/Reach PLC)

A prison guard has been jailed for eight months after having an inappropriate relationship with a drug dealer who styled himself as the "Latvian Pablo Escobar".

Jahvine Kwamba, 21, was 19 when she and inmate Roberts Sokolovs became romantically involved at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire in February 2024.

Sam Ponniah, defending Kwamba, told Leicester Crown Court on Friday that Sokolovs was her client's first romantic relationship.

The court heard Kwamba initiated contact with Sokolovs on Snapchat 1,367 times between February 24 and June 3, 2024, while he was being held at the Category C prison. One message she sent to Sokolovs said: "I love you."

Prosecutor Rawaid Javed told the court that after Sokolovs was transferred to an immigration removal centre at Gatwick Airport in June 2024, the pair exchanged sexually explicit photographs on Snapchat.

[0_JAJ_TEM_070826Court_002JPG.jpg]

View 2 Images

Kwamba, from Doncaster, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office(Image: Joseph Raynor/Reach PLC)

Mr Ponniah maintained there had been no sexual contact between the pair while Sokolovs was in prison, although the prosecution said it was "sceptical" of this, Leicestershire Live reports.

While at HMP Fosse Way, there were 5,441 contacts between the pair on Snapchat, followed by a further 4,211 contacts while Sokolovs was at the removal centre.

Sokolovs was jailed in 2022 for his role in the Jimmy Line county lines drug ring, which operated between Skelmersdale in Lancashire and Lincoln.

Between March 18 and July 2, 2024, Kwamba received five payments totalling 1,495 from Sokolovs' mother, Zita Sokolova, 53. During the same period, she also received 18 payments totalling 4,665 from his sister, Venera Sokolova, now 20.

Kwamba sent seven payments totalling 660 to his sister between March 27 and July 1, 2024.

Kwamba, from Doncaster, was arrested in July 2024 and later pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office - one relating to accepting the money and another to the inappropriate relationship.

In mitigation, Mr Ponniah said Kwamba had shown "significant levels of naivety and immaturity" and had been "well in over her head" when she was put in charge of 64 prisoners - despite having worked as a prison officer for only around four months.

He said: "She speaks about the fact [that] when she first got this job, being away from home, she was in an area she was unfamiliar with and living by herself. She has real and substantiated remorse for her actions, it is clear from her letter that one of the things that weighs heavily on her is ruining a job she thought she was doing well at."

Sokolovs' sister and mother sentenced

Sokolovs' mother, Zita Sokolova, and sister, Venera Sokolova, both of Digmoor, Skelmersdale, admitted unlawful electronic communication after having unauthorised phone conversations with Sokolovs while he was in prison.

At the same hearing, Venera Sokolova was given a 12-month community order, including a requirement to attend 15 probation appointments. Zita Sokolova received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and was ordered to pay 400 in costs.

Defending the Sokolovas, Jonathan Dunne said Zita Sokolova, a mother of six, came to the UK in 2006 and works in a factory making cables.

He said Venera Sokolova, who moved to the UK aged three, had given up her job as a school dinner lady after becoming pregnant with her son.

Mr Dunne said: "When women of good character come before the courts, there is invariably a man behind it. We know Roberts had access to a mobile phone in prison.

"They maintain they did not realise [Kwamba] was a prison officer. They never met her, they just thought she was his girlfriend."

Kwamba was 'pretty lonely and vulnerable', judge says

Addressing all three defendants in the dock, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: "This case strikes at the heart of any functioning criminal justice system, including a functioning prison system, where those running a prison can have some confidence that discipline and good order is maintained and not continually undermined.

"You, in your different ways, have all contributed to the undermining of that system of law and order, and each of you have struck at the heart of the maintenance of law and order in this country."

Sentencing Kwamba, who covered her face as she entered the court building to avoid reporters, the judge said she had exposed herself to the risk of blackmail and coercion.

He said: "You had extensive training, it was drummed into you the importance of high standards, professional contact and maintaining integrity, and not exposing yourself in the way a relationship with a prisoner would.

"You knew from the start that any money at all, let alone over 6,000, was exposing you to the same sort of risk I identified, and that the transfer of any amount was utterly wrong."

The judge said he suspected Kwamba was "pretty lonely and vulnerable", adding: "You were easy prey and easy pickings for Roberts, who obviously decided he could exploit you.

"It's implicit that you were of good character, not just in a sense of having no convictions, but you did well in this job and it is a tragedy you have thrown it all away."

[Daily Mirror Icon]

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.