A disgraced prison guard who romped an inmate on camera is reportedly staying on the same wing as Lucy Letby.
Linda De Sousa Abreu was jailed for 15 months this week after being punished for a video filmed inside HMP Wandsworth. The mum, from Fulham, South West London, had pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office last year after taking part in sexual activity with burglar Linton Weirich inside his cell while a second inmate filmed.
But despite being accustomed to telling inmates what to do, the 30-year-old will now be one of them, and she is reportedly living alongside evil killers in House Block 4 in HMP Bronzefield, Surrey.
Below, we take a closer look inside the wing and what’s in store for Abreu.
House Block 4, Bronzefield
HMP Bronzefield is Britain’s first purpose-built prison for women which opened back in 2004.
It has been home to the likes of Rose West and the most dangerous women stay inside what is known as H Block 4.
The prison itself is home to around 450 inmates and it is split into four house blocks including a mother and baby unit.
But the lifers stay in H4 alongside prisoners who get moved there for good behaviour, where they are afforded better conditions like an en-suite shower. It is also used to separate high profile prisoners from the rest of the population.
According to The Sun, baby murderer Letby has become prison pals with Sara Sharif’s killer stepmum Beinash Batool on the notorious unit.
And they also reported how this is where De Sousa Abreu is now staying after being told she would serve half her time in custody and the rest on licence.
Former inmate
One woman who knows all about House Block 4 is former drug dealer Francesca Fattore, who was sent there for good behaviour.
Despite the benefits of having her own shower, she lived alongside paedophiles and murderers and famous names like Mairead Philpott and Joanna Dennehy.
Speaking on her YouTube channel about what the food was like, she said: “In Bronzefield, it was horrific. The food was cr*p, the portion size was cr*p, you would be very lucky if you got extras.”
Inmates in Bronzefield choose their dinner via an electronic pod – but according to Francesca the meal sizes were tiny.
She said she wouldn’t have served them to her child but the food wasn’t always bad…
She revealed: “Every Sunday we would get chocolate doughnuts. Everyone who knows me on the outside knows they are my favourites. By the end of the day I would have like eight chocolate doughnuts on a plate.
“I would probably have five of them and I don’t know how I lost weight in prison, I definitely ate more inside than I do outside.”
Another ex-inmate commented: “I loved the porridge on a Sunday morning and the hard boiled egg in Bronzefield.”
Staying sane on House Block 4
In a recent interview, Francesca said she does not miss the “bitchiness” about jail where “girls will stab you in the back”.
But her biggest challenge in Bronzefield was dealing with having an adjoining cell with the likes of Philpott who deliberately set fire to her home where her six kids were killed. After serving half of her 17-year sentence, she was released in 2020 under a new name.
Asked how she kept sane while on the wing De Sousa Abreu is now living in, Francesca said the enhanced wing was a “real privilege” and it was “really good” having her own shower.
However, she added to the Daily Star: “I remember being there and the girls were like ‘oh that girl is here for terrorism’ and ‘that old lady used to beat her kids and make them eat dinner off the floor’. Then I was like’ don’t tell me any more’ because I didn’t want to know. This wasn’t who I wanted to be around, I am not that person so I asked not to be told any more.”
She soon had a different outlook after a jittery few days, and she explained: “I decided I needed to know who those people were.
“I needed to know because then I won’t talk to the people I don’t need to. I would never kick off on the wing because in my head when I went to prison that was it for me, I was going to change so I had to behave.
“I had to take my feelings aside of what you would want to say, what you’d want to do to somebody and just be a better person. When I learned my next door neighbour was that woman (Mairead) you just start thinking, ‘wow I am in with some crazy, evil, nasty people’.”
Francesca, who now runs UkExFemalePrisoner to support reformed female criminals, added: “Literally you just have to think that if I am spoken to by then then just don’t speak back or keep it as minimum as possible. You have to switch off (from their crimes) because you have no choice.”
Despite being unnerved by other inmates, Francesca also claimed that even some prison officers found ways to provoke.
She said: “And then I don’t also miss certain officers, there were a lot of good officers but there were certain officers that would play with you and provoke you and try and get you to blow up or snap. They would push your buttons just for their own benefit.”
Other ex-inmate
Emily Duff found herself inside HMP Bronzefield for drug offences and is a former wingmate and colleague to Shauna Hoare. Hoare helped boyfriend Nathan Matthews suffocate and dismember Becky Watts, who was just 16.
She spent five days a week with Hoare after they did hairdressing and beauty courses – but said something was chilling about her.
Emily told the Daily Star: “She was very calm, came across very timid and it was probably difficult to understand that she could have done something like that. But there was something about her that I just wasn’t quite sure of.
“I had this feeling, I don’t know whether it’s because in the back of my head I knew what she had been a part of, but there was an aura she gave off. She could be chatty but not overly and she never got overly friendly with lots of people.”
Hoare was recently released on licence but according to the Mirror, a source revealed that she spent “hours playing board games” and doing karaoke with the unit’s most infamous current inmate – Lucy Letby.