'I had adjoining cell with UK's most hated mum - but that wasn't the worst part of jail'

A woman who was locked up in one of the UK's most notorious prisons has shared the worst part about jail - and it wasn't her killer cellmate.

Francesca Fattore served three years and eight months for drug offences in Bronzefield. She revealed that the worst part was the gossip and not the fact that she had paedophiles, terrorists and murderers on her wing.

She even shared an adjoining cell with "Britain's most hated mum", Mairead Philpott, who killed her six kids in a deliberate fire in May 2012. , Francesca later turned her life around following a 12-week rehab programme in HMP Send in Surrey, where she met .

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Now, looking back at the most vivid part of her experience, she has shared her toughest and best moments about jail. She told : “What I don’t miss is the bitchiness, girls will stab you in the back. They will make out you are friends but they are not. But first of all, before that, obviously what I don’t miss is being away from family and friends. That was the hardest part of my sentence… that was the hardest bit."

Francesca, who also revealed how she found a way to keep sane on the , continued: “And then I don’t also miss certain officers, there were a lot of good officers but there were certain officers that would play with you and provoke you and try and get you to blow up or snap. They would push your buttons just for their own benefit.”

She explained how she became extremely close to some , and said it was hard not having them to speak to in the outside where she was judged by both family members and potential employers for her criminal past.

And as for another thing she enjoyed about being , she added: “It is definitely the routine. I worked really well under it. I worked really well not having choices. You kind of don’t really think for yourself any more. They take control of everything and if you have money you can buy canteen, and if you don’t, you don’t, whereas when you come out you get bills, you are trying to prove yourself, just starting all over again and just being rejected from jobs."

Her former cellmate, Mairead Philpott, was charged for deliberately setting fire to her home where her children were killed. The fire was revealed to be part of a sick plot orchestrated by her husband to frame his ex-mistress. The Philpotts and their family friend Paul Mosley planned to shift the blame to another person.

Philpott planned to save the children but the fire got out of control. He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 15 years for manslaughter. Mairead Philpott was released in 2020 under a new name having served half of her 17-year sentence for helping with the plot. The victims were Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, 10, Jack, 7, Jesse , 6, and Jayden, 5.

Despite meeting the likes of Philpott and killer Joanna Dennehy, Francesca has found positive ways to stay on the right path. The former drug dealer now dedicates her free time to help former female reintegrate into society and she runs her own YouTube channel where she invited ex-inmates on to share their experiences. Her organisation is called UkExFemalePrisoner which aims to be a safe space for former female criminals who they want to create opportunities for.