A prison guard who called and sent texts to her jailbird boyfriend by mobile phone has been let off with a suspended prison sentence.

Danielle Lynch, 20, of Blake Eagle drive, Northfleet, smuggled the phone into HMP Wormwood Scrubs in January last year.

In the space of only a few weeks she and the inmate called each other hundreds of times, and sent thousands of intimate texts.

The prisoner, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also sent seven picture messages.

Lynch, who is heavily pregnant, replied with 30 pictures of her own, Southwark Crown Court heard last Friday .

Later when the phone was discovered, the prisoner had her number filed under 'Head Gal'.

The court heard how Lynch was an operational support grade at the Du Crane Road prison, Shepherd's Bush.

But she was out of her depth and "foolishly allowed herself to be manipulated by an older man", it was said.

Between January 23 and March 11 last year the prisoner called her 590 times and sent 2,361 texts. She called him 245 times and sent 2,666 messages.

Between February 5 and March 3 they exchanged 37 picture messages.

Lynch pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office, for failing to report a mobile phone and for communicating with a prisoner.

A further charge of misconduct by taking in a mobile phone into a prison was left to lie on file.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin sentence her to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and said she should be the subject of a supervision order for the next year.