An acting prison governor has jailed for five years for having sex with an inmate at a female prison.

Married Russell Thorne, 41, of Sutton, a principal officer at HMP Downview, was jailed this afternoon at Guildford Crown Court.

He was found guilty on Friday of misconduct in public office for romping with a female prisoner at the jail.

But his co-defendant Simon Dykes, 45, will be retried later this year after the jury could not reach a verdict on three misconduct charges.

They related to whether he had sex with three different inmates at the female prison.

He was cleared of three misconduct charges, when he was accused of masturbating outside a prisoner's cell, sexually touching a prisoner, and having sex with another prisoner.

He is due for retrial on November 23.

Thorne struck up a three-and-a-half year relationship with his prisoner lover who he gave preferential treatment for her having sex with him in his office.

She had access to vodka, Red Bull, chocolates and her own vanity mirror in his office - out of bounds to other prisoners - where she applied make-up and other cosmetics he gave her from a shopping list she gave him, the court was told.

He gave her a special role at the prison, which allowed them to spend time alone together.

She told the court during the trial, during their first sexual encounter in his office on a Saturday morning, he “ordered” her to allow him to perform a sex act on her.

She said: “I said no, but he said, it’s an order.”

She told the court she had first got involved with him because he believed she could get preferential treatment, but she had fallen in love with him.

During the trial, Ian Acheson,prosecuting, said events at the prison made it possible to visualise a real-life version of a "Carry On Inside" film, with Sid James playing the role of the prison officer and Barbara Windsor in a short skirt perched on his desk.

He said: "There is temptation to view this as good clean British fun, but set that to one side.”

He said Thorne's actions represented gross misconduct and was exploiting, oppressing and blackmailing a vulnerable woman.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) condemned Thorne’s behaviour, but would not state what changes had been made to protocol at the jail as a result of his conviction, and evidence heard at the trial.

The court heard there was “a culture of corruption” at the woman’s prison.

A MoJ spokesman said criminal proceedings were still active as a result of the retrial and it did not want to jeopardise any future trial, but its investigations were ongoing.

Jonathan French, Governor of HMP Downview, said: "Russell Thorne was in a position of trust and authority. His actions showed complete disregard for the women of Downview and failed to provide the level of care we expect.

"This five year sentence demonstrates that the Prison Service is determined to work with the Police to root out corruption and criminal behaviour. There's no place for this conduct anywhere in the service.

"The vast majority of staff are honest and hard working and I will continue to create and support a culture which values integrity and respect above all else."