Prison psychologist who had sex with inmate and smuggled him contraband is jailed for two years and four months

Published 3 November 2026, 13:02

• Hundreds of Snapchat messages and explicit images exposed psychologist Amber Gayle's affair with inmate Rickcarlo Williams, 24, at Swinfen Hall.
• Williams used a phone Gayle smuggled in to order more banned devices, and now faces 14 more months behind bars.
• Detective Superintendent Ross Jones said Gayle 'used her position of authority to operate below the radar'.

A prison psychologist has been jailed for two years and four months after she smuggled mobile phones into a young offenders' institution and had sex with an inmate inside its grounds.

Amber Renee Gayle, 32, from Great Barr in Birmingham, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on 28 October to three offences: conveying prohibited articles into a prison through conspiracy, accessing data without authorisation, and misconduct in a public office.

Her sentence broke down as one year and two months for the phone-smuggling conspiracy, a consecutive eight months for misconduct in public office, and a further six months for misuse of computer systems.

Gayle had been working as a psychologist at HMPYOI Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, when concerns about her conduct were raised in late 2024.

A joint investigation by the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit and HM Prison and Probation Service's Counter Corruption Unit uncovered hundreds of messages between Gayle and a number that was later traced to serving inmate Rickcarlo Williams, 24.

The messages, exchanged via Snapchat, exposed explicit images and an intimate relationship that existed between the two.

Further Snapchat messages revealed that sexual activity between Gayle and Williams had taken place inside the institution's grounds.

Officers discovered that Williams had been using a contraband mobile phone — brought in to him by Gayle — to contact people on the outside who were involved in smuggling additional banned devices into the prison.

Pictures recovered from the phone showed prohibited devices packaged up and ready to be brought in by Gayle.

A guilty plea was entered by Williams on charges of conspiracy to smuggle a prohibited item into a prison and unauthorised possession of a specified item within a prison.

He was handed an additional one year and two months to run consecutively to the sentence he was already serving, meaning he faces 14 more months behind bars.

Both Gayle and Williams were additionally required to hand over several mobile phones and an amount of cash, and to pay a surcharge.

Detective Superintendent Ross Jones, of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said the case was "a complex and sophisticated operation that involved a significant amount of communication between Gayle and Williams for a prolonged period."

He said Gayle "clearly used her position of authority to operate below the radar" to bring illicit phones into the institution and pursue the relationship.

Jones added that Williams "consistently arranged parcels to be delivered to Gayle, as well as facilitated their distribution within the YOI," making clear that Williams was an active organiser of the smuggling network.

Jones said he was "pleased that they have each been handed custodial sentences."