LIVERPOOL — Helen Spree was jailed for five years and three months in 2023 after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office, conspiracy to supply cannabis, and conspiracy to convey prohibited items into HMP Liverpool. The 63-year-old had served as head of the prison’s independent monitoring board (IMB) while engaging in illicit communications with inmates over a 20-month period.
Spree began volunteering as a member of an independent monitoring board in 2017, a role that scrutinizes conditions in prisons in England and Wales. She was appointed head of the IMB at HMP Liverpool in January 2021, a position that granted her unsupervised access to the category B prison and her own set of keys. During her tenure, she transferred £100 to prisoner Dylan Westall, who was serving a life sentence for manslaughter, and smuggled in cannabis, mobile phones, SIM cards, and phone chargers. In one message, she referred to herself as “the prisoner’s version of Deliveroo.”
Court proceedings revealed that Spree also sent explicit messages to two other prisoners and disclosed sensitive operational details, including cell search schedules, officer deployments, and upcoming arrests. Police searching her home in August 2021 discovered two custom-made pillows featuring Westall’s face alongside an image of a gun. She also had a chest tattoo of a bumblebee holding a love heart with the word “Masterpiece” underneath—a nickname Westall used for her in a thank-you card found by officers.
Spree, who had no prior convictions and denied any direct physical sexual contact with prisoners, had previously worked as a sales director for a global firm. Her suspension by the prisons watchdog was first reported in October 2021.
At sentencing, Judge Flewitt KC said: “You allowed yourself to be used to bring in cannabis and other prohibited items for their benefit and personal use. These were deliberate offences which required a high level of planning and sophistication.” He added that Spree was “to some extent manipulated” by prisoners “who clearly saw you as a person who could be turned to their advantage” despite her intelligence and senior position.
Her barrister, Arthur Gibson, told the court she had hidden a personal history of “abuse and trauma.” Gibson said that by 2017, Spree had become “seriously damaged mentally by her dealings with men and towards them had very low self-esteem” and was easily susceptible to “being flattered and treated as a confidante.” He described the discovery of the pillows as something “one would expect with a teenager’s first love” and indicative of how deeply she had become “emotionally involved.”