Gang boss DNA found on toothbrush at prison governor’s flat, jury hears

A prison governor has denied being in a relationship with a drug gang boss inmate known as “Jesse Pinkman” after size 10 Hugo Boss flip flops and a toothbrush carrying his DNA was found in her flat.

Divorcee Kerri Pegg, 42, also denied she accepted a £12,000 Mercedes car from Anthony Saunderson, who she had approved for temporary early release from HMP Kirkham, where she was a governor, a jury heard.

Pegg was seen as a “rising star” in the Prison Service, quickly climbing the career ladder from graduate entrant to prison governor in six years, Preston Crown Court heard.

But Pegg, described in court as, “petite, blonde and bubbly” – who also had breast enhancement surgery while working in the Prison Service, “did not play by the rules” it is alleged, beginning a relationship with Saunderson, known to criminal associates as “Jesse Pinkman”, the meth-dealing character from TV’s Breaking Bad.

Barbara Louise-Webster, prosecuting, showed the jury the flip flops found in Pegg’s apartment and said Saunderson had been visiting her.

“A number of times, because you were having a relationship?” Ms Webster added.

“No,” replied Pegg.

Ms Webster continued: “That’s the reason there’s a toothbrush with his DNA on it, in your flat.

“You accept the Hugo Boss flip flops found in your flat had his DNA and your DNA?”

“Yes,” Pegg replied.

“What size are you?” Ms Webster said.

“Me, I’m size four,” Pegg replied.

Prosecutors allege, along with becoming personally involved with a convict and accepting a car from him, Pegg lived beyond her means and got into debt with three County Court Judgments (CCJs) against her, which she was duty-bound to declare but did not, as these make public officials with money worries vulnerable to corruption.

Pegg denies all the offences and tearfully told jurors she had been “incredibly stupid”, but did not think she had done anything wrong.

Police seized the Mercedes C class saloon outside her home when police swooped in November 2019.

Inside her apartment in Orrell, Wigan, along with the flip flops and toothbrush they found designer clothes, shoes, handbags and jewellery.

Saunderson was given a 10-year jail term in November 2014 for drugs conspiracy and money laundering.

In June 2017, he was moved to HMP Kirkham, and later Pegg, a governor there, is alleged to have broken prison rules by signing off on his temporary release for time out of custody, without proper authority.

Saunderson served his sentence and was released from Kirkham on May 22, 2019.

But two months later he became involved in another conspiracy to supply drugs, later identified as the boss of a drug gang and went by the name of Jesse Pinkman on the Encrochat encrypted mobile phone network, used by organised crime gangs.

At the same time, in July 2019, the court heard newly-released Saunderson was contracted by some prisons to run a project, titled Breaking Alcohol and Drug Dependency.

Pegg, at the time the regional official co-ordinating drug strategy in six prisons in the North West of England and “passionate” about the BADD project, thought of Saunderson not as an ex-inmate but a “colleague” and she said this explained her contact with him as he was working on the project.

Later, when police cracked the Encrochat system, it revealed Saunderson’s drug dealing and his alleged relationship with Pegg.

Pegg denies two counts of misconduct in a public office, one by having a relationship with Saunderson and the second by failing to disclose county court judgments about her debts.

She also denies one count of possessing criminal property, the Mercedes car, from Saunderson.

The trial was adjourned until Friday morning.