A violent prisoner was allegedly uncuffed by guards so he could have sex with his girlfriend.

An investigation has been launched and a member of staff suspended after inmate Declan Madigan was unshackled during a hospital stay.

The Sun reports Madigan, who is serving time at HMP Swaleside in Eastchurch, and girlfriend Karen Robson were also allowed to use mobile phones and share takeaway dinners with guards at Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham.

Madigan, the newspaper says, is serving 11 years for ordering a drive-by shooting and firearms and drug offences and is meant to be under constant supervision and handcuffed to a prison officer at all times.

He was reportedly staying at the hospital while doctors looked into claims the 29-year-old, who is paralysed from the chest down, had lost the use of his arms.

The article quoted girlfriend Karen Robson as saying: "There were three guards supposed to be watching him at all times but they never stopped me s***ing Declan.

"They would either leave the room when we had sex or just draw the curtain round his hospital bed and let us get on with it."

Video footage and pictures of the 23-year-old in bed with Madigan were also reportedly taken.

One clip apparently shows her massaging Madigan while they engage in a sex act.

In one picture a guard can be seen in the background and appears to be asleep with handcuffs around his wrist that should have been attached to Madigan.

The Sun reports Madigan, from Nottingham, was once the the youngest person to get an Asbo at 14 and quickly racked up 100 convictions for violent crime, burglary and theft.

In 2013 he was convicted of ordering a drive-by shooting over a drug debt and having a gun and getting an accomplice to hide it, it says.

A total of 15 officers were apparently assigned 12-hour shifts between them to guard Madigan in a private ward but Karen Ronson is reported as saying only one prison officer was present in the room for long periods of time despite a three-guard rule.

The article said she went on to say some of the officers would watch TV in the hospital’s lounge and quotes her as saying: “The guards never stopped us doing what we want.

“They just kept saying how easy it was. That’s why they were all falling asleep. We’d buy them food and they would just eat it all with us.

“At one point one guard even said, ‘This would be a picture, wouldn’t it?’ It was absolutely unbelievable,

“Declan even rang me to come down to the hospital using a screw’s phone after he had been in there a couple of days.

“I could use my phone whenever I wanted to take pictures and let Declan use it too.

“Declan’s supposed to be a high-risk prisoner but his mates could have busted him out if they’d wanted.

“I spent about ten days with him of his two weeks in hospital — and just stopped in a hotel for a few hours then went back to see him.

“He’d told them he couldn’t use his arms but they were fine.”

Madigan was reported as being paralysed since a 2011 car crash but is still able to have sex.

A prison service spokesman said: “We are urgently investigating these allegations and have already suspended a member of staff.

“Maintaining prisoner security on hospital escorts is paramount and we will take disciplinary action where professional standards have been breached by our staff.”

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