A woman who served as a prison librarian in the United Kingdom is facing charges on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting and molesting the prisoners in jail, charges which she has continued to deny.
Sharon Mawdsley, a 45-year-old woman from St Lukes Road, Blackpool, worked at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire until she resigned in July 2018. Between December 2017 and July 2018, she has been accused by numerous men in the prison of having been molested or sexually assaulted by her, according to Yahoo! News.
Mawdsley faces nine different charges for the crimes that she allegedly committed in Lancashire during her tenure in the position, including six counts for the sexual assault of men and three counts of misconduct of a public office, the Lancashire Post reported.
Mawdsley has continually denied sexually assaulting those men, and it currently remains unclear if the men, who may or may not still be in prison, will be asked to testify on the case during the trial. It is also unclear if her resignation from her post as librarian in 2018 was in any way related to the sexual assault charges that she is currently facing today.
She had previously appeared in court in September, where she was not asked to bring a plea in by a judge, and was given unconditional bail after the procedures were finished.
She appeared at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday for a Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing, where the trial of her case was scheduled for Sept. 25, 2023, and the case’s presiding Judge Heather Lloyd gave her unconditional bail after she entered her name to the court and pleaded not guilty for all nine counts, Daily Mail reported.
She will have another Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing in January, and a pre-trial preparation on July before her trial is set to begin.
