A former Hollesley Bay open prison worker who had a relationship with a prisoner who went on the run has been jailed for 12 months.

Frances King, 28, of Hall Farm Road, Melton, near Woodbridge, had been a clerical assistant at the jail.

She was charged with three offences relating to Daniel Best who absconded while serving an indeterminate sentence.

King pleaded guilty to holding a public office and wilfully neglecting to perform her duty.

She admitted that between July 1, 2013, and August 3, 2013, while acting as a public officer at Hollesley Bay she was guilty of misconduct by entering into a relationship with a serving prisoner.

However, King denied assisting a prisoner to escape and a further offence of assisting an offender to impede apprehension or prosecution.

These offences were be left on the court file.

Best, formerly of Portal Avenue, Martlesham, walked out of Hollesley Bay open prison in July last year.

At his Ipswich Crown Court sentencing in 2007 the judge branded him a danger to society.

He was reported as missing when he failed to turn up for morning roll-call at 7.50am on July 5.

After being recaptured Best, 25, was jailed for eight months at Ipswich Crown Court in August last year.

Best had admitted escaping from prison while serving an indeterminate sentence.

He had been moved to Hollesley Bay four months earlier and was on the run for a week before he was recaptured by police in Ipswich on July 12.

Best was originally imprisoned aged 19 after he dragged his ex-girlfriend from a friend’s house in Newson Street, Ipswich, into a shed in nearby Anglesea Road on June 10, 2007.

He had released his grip on the 17-year-old girl after 30 minutes allowing her to escape.