Forest Bank prisoner officer was 'love bombed' by 'pretty boy' inmate - now she's behind bars herself

A prison officer who was "duped" into a "sham romance" with a convicted rapist inmate tried to smuggle drugs worth tens of thousands of pounds into a Greater Manchester jail for him and his cellmate.

"Relatively new" and "very inexperienced" officer Hannah Angwaba, 30, was "exploited" by Anton McPherson, 34, who "love bombed" her in a bid to win her affection shortly after she started at working at HMP Forest Bank, a court heard.

And she was then caught with a package containing cocaine, cannabis, miniature mobile phones, and tobacco hidden in the braids of her hair as she arrived for an afternoon shift at the Salford jail.

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She had learned the night before that the relationship was not genuine, and that McPherson had a girlfriend on the outside, the court was told.

However, she still agreed to bring in the contraband after being "pressured and persuaded" by Julius Marshall, 33, who she is also said to have struck up a "friendship" with and been having "inappropriate" contact with.

She then admitted bringing in several more packages and being paid for some of them. She has now been jailed with Marshall and McPherson also handed lengthy prison sentences.

Angwaba started working at Forest Bank in December 2019 after completing her training, with McPherson and Marshall sharing a cell at this time.

Angwaba is said to have started what she believed to be a relationship with McPherson, a self-confessed "pretty boy" who was later jailed for 11 years in December 2020 for twice raping a woman after a New Year's Eve party in Tameside in January 2019.

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