A prison officer who is alleged to have secretly communicated with a serving inmate at a scandal-mired jail now faces trial at crown court.

Michaela Crawford, 34, was charged with misconduct in a public office over claims she had improper contact with the prisoner while working at troubled HMP Deerbolt in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

HMP Deerbolt is no stranger to inappropriate relationships between prison officers and inmates - Crawford is the second guard from the prison to be hauled before courts this year for a similar offence. 

Crawford is said to have 'wilfully' communicated with Carl Catleugh 'without reasonable excuse or justification' at the category-C prison in August 2024.

Prosecutors allege she 'abused the public's trust' by 'communicating with a serving prisoner of HMP Deerbolt' while she was 'employed as a prison officer.'

Crawford, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, this week appeared at Peterlee Magistrates' Court, where her case was sent to Durham Crown Court without a plea being entered.

She was released on unconditional bail ahead of her next hearing in May.

Warning Crawford she must attend, district judge Steven Hood told her: 'The case, as I said, has to go to the crown court.

'If you fail to attend Durham Crown Court then you commit a further offence, and there could be a warrant put out for your arrest.'

Crawford had no comment to make on the case when approached at her beautician business in Bishop Auckland, which she launched just months after her alleged misconduct.

She regularly posts on social media documenting her 'weight loss journey' and gym progress.

'We sometimes need a reminder of how far we've came and how far we've still yet to come,' she told followers in one post.

Crawford is the second Deerbolt prison officer to be hauled before the courts this year.

In February, former officer Ellis Eyles was jailed for eight months after admitting misconduct in public office over a behind-bars romance with convicted murderer Mitchell Ingham.

The latest allegations come as HMP Deerbolt, a training and resettlement prison, remains under scrutiny over deep-rooted problems.

Inspectors last year warned an 'entrenched drug culture' remains rife at the jail, with more than a third of mandatory drug tests coming back positive.

The Criminal Justice Inspectorate watchdog also told of stubbornly high violence, with dozens of assaults on inmates and staff, and elevated rates of self-harm.

The prison - which houses around 490 male inmates - had previously been criticised over 'shabby' conditions, with prisoners being handed bin bags to wear instead of coats during exercise.