A FEMALE prison officer has been suspended for allegedly having a fling with a man jailed for molesting a terrified pensioner.

Bosses at Frankland Prison, Durham City, suspended the officer ten days ago and have launched an inquiry.

The day after she was suspended, the prisoner involved, John Potts, was moved to neighbouring Durham Jail.

In 1998, Potts, 32, of Sunderland, was jailed for ten years - later reduced to seven on appeal - for indecently assaulting a 77-year-old woman in her home.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "The prisoner has been transferred to another jail and the matter is the subject of an internal inquiry."

Potts, described as evil by police, was found guilty of molesting the woman in the bedroom of her warden-controlled flat while he was high on drink and drugs.

He knocked on her door at night, pretending to be her son, and then pounced after she tried to raise the alarm.

When he was sentenced in September 1998, at Newcastle Crown Court, police were forced to seize him as he tried to flee the court.

At the time, Max Black, of Sunderland CID, said: "What he did to this woman was repellent and repulsive, displaying a savagery that is odious in any human being."

When Potts was committed for trial by Sunderland magistrates, he managed to smuggle a razor blade into court and used the free hand, which was not cuffed to a warder, to slash his throat.

He recovered from the wound to be convicted of the sexual assault, and later threatening a police officer with a knife.

The female prison officer has not been named.

Steve Jackson, the Prison Officers' Association representative at Frankland Prison, said: "Evidence is still being gathered. It is normal procedure to suspend the officer."