A PRISON officer has killed himself after being sacked for allegedly having sex with a trainee warder on a top-security unit.

Howard Lovell was fired even though the woman's evidence to the governor of Strangeways was uncorroborated by any other witness.

Today, union officials told the M.E.N. they believed he was unfairly dismissed and had been due to challenge the sacking at an appeal hearing.

But the hearing was postponed - at the request of the union - and days later a depressed Mr Lovell, was found hanged at home in Heaton Chapel, Stockport. He was 39.

The Prison Officers' Association said Mr Lovell had been fired from Strangeways last May ''on the balance of probabilities.''

POA north west representative Tony Freel said: ''The dismissal was far too severe a penalty. It was essentially her word against his.''

Mr Freel added: ''I was going to fight the appeal vigorously, because the prison service breached its own procedures when Mr Lovell was dismissed.

''This is a terrible and tragic end to a two-year-long case.''

Mr Lovell always maintained he was innocent of the charge that he cavorted with trainee warder Heather Barnes, aged 19.

He was suspended in 1999, accused of professional misconduct after Miss Barnes claimed she was alone on E Wing - which houses some of Strangeways' most dangerous inmates - when she was visited by Mr Lovell in a side room.

At the time, he was in charge of the segregated prisoners' section on a different level of the wing.

Miss Barnes told prison governor John Smith at the disciplinary hearing last May, that she and Mr Lovell had sex while prisoners were locked in their cells for the night.

She had earlier told the Manchester Evening News that she was ashamed of what she had done and said: ''It's something I regret. I had only been a prison officer for a few months and knew that I was on my own on the wing.

''He came to see me and it went from there. I want to hold on to my job because a career in the prison service is what I have always wanted.''

Today, police and the Stockport coroner's office confirmed that Mr Lovell, divorced with a son, died at his home in Brook Road, Heaton Chapel, on December 23.

Chairman of the POA at Strangeways, Glen Birchall, said it was ''with great sadness'' that colleagues heard the tragic news of Mr Lovell's death.

He confirmed that there had been a delay in the appeal hearing, but said this was not unusual: ''It can take as long as this. The cogs run very slowly at the Home Office.''

Mr Birchall added that Mr Lovell was ''well liked and a good officer.''

Meanwhile, staff at the jail were angry today that a memo sent by governors, asked them to consider the relatives of an inmate found dead from a suspected drugs overdose on Boxing Day, made no mention of Mr Lovell's death.

One told the M.E.N: ''It would have been nice to be asked to also remember one of our own.''

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