Prison governor faces jail over relationship with Liverpool drug boss

A prison governor has been found guilty of misconduct in a public office, after she started a relationship with a Liverpool drug gang boss nicknamed “Jesse Pinkman” after a character in the TV show Breaking Bad. Kerri Pegg, 42, has been told she faces jail after she accepted a gift of a £12,000 Mercedes C-Class car, which Anthony Saunderson paid for with 34kg of amphetamines. Saunderson, an organised crime boss now serving 35 years behind bars after being convicted of drug trafficking, is known to criminal associates as “Jesse Pinkman”, or “James Gandolfini” after the actor who played Tony Soprano in the mafia TV series. The trial at Preston crown court heard Pegg had signed off on temporary release for Saunderson while she was a governor at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire. The court heard that Pegg, who had driven a Honda Jazz before Saunderson gave her the Mercedes, was previously seen as a “rising star” within the Prison Service, climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in just six years. Pegg joined as governor of HMP Kirkham, a category D men’s open prison, in 2018. Saunderson had been moved to the prison in June 2017 after receiving a 10-year sentence in 2014 for drugs conspiracy and money laundering. “Despite her success, she didn’t play by the rules that everybody else had to follow,” the prosecutor Barbara Webster told the court at the opening of the trial. “Her downfall was twofold – the first, despite having a good income, she lived beyond her means. “She spent all her income and more, incurring debts, and she had county court judgments made against her. As a consequence, she became vulnerable and open to exploitation.” During the trial, it emerged Saunderson had developed and delivered a programme titled BADD (Beating Alcohol and Drug Dependency) for inmates at several jails – while at the time being a major drug dealer, running an amphetamines factory. Pegg claimed her contact with Saunderson was due to his involvement in the BADD programme, but the court heard that even members of his own gang had complained that their boss was spending too much time with Pegg and away from his wife and “work”. Detectives found Saunderson’s DNA on a pair of flip-flops and a toothbrush after a raid at Pegg’s home in Orrell, a suburb of Wigan, the court heard. “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong, but when I look back now, I was incredibly stupid,” Pegg told the court, giving evidence in her defence. She was convicted of two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of possession of criminal property, after the jury deliberated for two hours and 43 minutes following a three-week trial. Pegg made no reaction as the guilty verdicts were delivered. Judge Knowles told her a prison term was “inevitable”, but bailed Pegg to the court building while the sentencing date was arranged, for either later on Tuesday or another date.