The glamorous prison boss who accepted a £12,000 Mercedes from a big-time drug dealer
Kerri Pegg, 42, formed a relationship with a big-time drug dealer
Police mugshot of Kerri Pegg(Image: CPS)
The is the arrest mugshot of a former prison governor who is facing jail for forming relationship with a prisoner and accepting this £12,000 Mercedes from him as a gift.
Kerri Pegg, 42 from Up Holland in Lancashire, was convicted of misconduct in public office and possession of criminal property following a trial at Preston Crown Court.
Instead, ‘naive and gullible’ Pegg was taken advantage of by major Liverpool crime figure Anthony Saunderson, known to associates as ‘Jesse Pinkman after the meth-dealing character from TV’s Breaking Bad.
When police raided her apartment, in Orrell, Wigan, they found size 10 Hugo Boss flip flops and a toothbrush carrying Saunderson’s DNA.
Officers also seized the Mercedes C class saloon outside her home when investigators swooped in November 2019. Today investigators released a picture of the car as well as Pegg’s arrest mugshot.
Prior to the guilty verdict, Andrew Alty, defending, in his closing speech described Pegg as ‘green and stupid’, but added she had led an ‘unblemished life, never having been in trouble with police before, and later going on to work for a homeless charity.
Pegg had denied all the offences and tearfully told jurors she had been ‘incredibly stupid’, but did not think she had done anything wrong.
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. He ‘had the ear’ of Pegg and he regularly visited her office with the door closed, the court heard.
After his release from jail Saunderson became involved in another conspiracy to supply drugs, and was later identified as the boss of a drug gang going 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 called Breaking Alcohol and Drug Dependency.
The Mercedes gifted to Kerri Pegg by a drug dealer(Image: CPS)
Pegg, at the time the regional official co-ordinating drug strategy in six prisons in the north west of England, 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 relationship with Pegg.
Saunderson is now serving 35 years behind bars.
Pegg was convicted of two counts of misconduct in a public office and one count of possession of criminal property. The jury was out for two hours and 43 minutes, following a three-week trial.
Pegg made no reaction as the guilty verdicts were delivered.
Judge Graham Knowles told Pegg a prison term was “inevitable”, but bailed the defendant to the court building while a sentencing date is arranged either later on Tuesday or at a later date.
Tarryn McCaffrey from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Kerri Pegg’s conduct fell far short of what might be expected from any professional within the prison service, let alone one of such a senior grade as prison governor.”She was clearly involved in an inappropriate relationship with Saunderson after he was released and the evidence points to this going back further, to a time when he was in jail.”This relationship, and the fact that Pegg failed to disclose her debts to her employers, amount to a gross breach of trust and are therefore extremely damaging to public confidence.”The CPS will not hesitate to prosecute cases such as this where public servants abuse their position.”