A female prison officer had sex with a convicted murderer in his cell – who she described as "My True Love" – and later gave birth to his child.

Kathryn Trevor also kept quiet about the fact her lover, David Quartey, from Dartford, kept an illicit mobile phone in his cell so they could keep communicating with each other.

Her killer lover - a law student - had been convicted in 2008 for the brutal murder of a 54-year-old doctor who was stabbed 56 times.

But 29-year-old Trevor, of Sham Farm Road, Eridge Green, avoided going to prison because of their 13-month-old child.

Judge Catherine Moore told her she had "very narrowly escaped custody", adding: "I make it plain that but for the age of your son the sentence would have been immediate custody."

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Trevor was a prison officer at HMP Maidstone from 2020 to 2021, where she "engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a prisoner."

Prosecutor Sarah Lindop said: "That resulted in her getting pregnant by him and giving birth to a baby boy in August 2021.

"She established a relationship with his family in order to facilitate contact between herself and Quartey. She also knew he was using an illicit mobile telephone and failed in her duty to report that.

"His father was also acting as a go-between, " she added.

The court heard how investigators began probing the relationship between the two in October 2020 as she was working on the wing where Quartey was housed."

The prosecutor said she had been dismissed but then re-instated previously following an unsubstantiated claim of a sexual relationship with another prisoner.

Ms Lindop said that in March 2021, Trevor reported that she was pregnant and was moved onto other duties – however, by May Quartey's calls were being monitored.

He was then moved to HMP Huntercombe in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, however officers discovered evidence the two had been communicating.

In June, she told the authorities she was taking annual leave and gave birth but five days later her home was raided.

Later, one of the welfare officials from HMP Maidstone visited her when she admitted Quartey was the father after the two began talking about his family and the fact he wanted to have children.

"She chatted to him about the offence he was in prison for, murder, and believed he had been wrongly convicted.

"She told how she came to have sex with Quartey in his cell and thought about resigning but didn't want to be away from him, " the prosecutor added.

Trevor said she planned to quit so she could take the child to show her lover in Huntercombe and sent her resignation letter in September.

Ms Lindop told how investigators also discovered a number of dates she had recorded on her phone including the anniversary of meeting him, his birthday and "a reference to first time" on October 4.

Quartey, of Humber Road, Dartford, had been convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of murdering consultant paediatrician Victoria Anyetei.

The 54-year-old doctor had been stabbed 56 times in her car in Teynham Road, Dartford, on 14 August 2007, as she left for work at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

Quartey was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 15 years.

Ed Fowler, defending, said Trevor had won awards for her dealings with vulnerable prisoners.

She admitted two charges of misconduct in a public office and was given a 20 month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

Trevor also broke down in the dock each time she heard her child who was being cared for by a friend outside the courtroom.