HMP Wandsworth Locksmith Jailed For Making Cement Key Moulds

Career Up In Smoke: Martynov

A HMP Wandsworth locksmith, who made concrete moulds of a cell key and two wing keys while boasting of selling them for £100,000 to start a new romantic life in Trinidad, received four years and five months imprisonment yesterday.

Married Andrej Martynov, 44, exchanged flirtatious online messages with a colleague at the south-west London prison - where he is destined to start his sentence - urging her to join him in the Caribbean.

He was employed by private facilities management firm Carillion, who had a government contract at the prison and began working there despite hardly speaking a word of English.

Lithuanian-born Martynov, of Routh Street, Beckton pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in public office on or before September 12, 2019, namely while the ‘lock and key controller’ made moulds of keys and removed them.

“Anyone with access to those keys could release any of the fifteen hundred prisoners and allow them access to the grounds, up to the prison wall,” prosecutor Richard Job told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court today.

HMP Wandsworth is a Category B prison, housing murderers, terrorists and members of organised crime, said Governor George Pugh in a statement.

At least £422,000 was spent changing 840 locks and 1172 keys.

“The maximum sentence for these offences is life imprisonment and the defendant’s culpability is plainly high. It is grave offending, motivated by financial advantage,” said Mr Job.

“The level of harm is high because of the obvious risk to the public and in the words of the Governor the ‘eye watering’ cost of rectifying the damage done by this defendant.”

Martynov always denied there was any sinister or financial motive for creating the moulds, claiming he innocently wanted to familiarise himself with how high-security prison keys work.

The court held a Newton Hearing and he gave evidence, but his claims were rejected by the Judge Rajeev Shetty, who also heard from HMP Wandsworth work colleague Sabrina Ghany, who said Marynov had a crush on her.

He told her he could fund their new life in the Caribbean by selling the moulds to an underworld figure.

His boasts were reported by Ms Ghany and police raided Marynov’s matrimonial home and discovered in a sock drawer the two quick-drying cement moulds, containing three key impressions.

Sabrian Ghany

Ms Ghany, a project escort, who accompanies outside contractors and tradesmen within HMP Wandsworth, told the court she was one of only two fellow-workers who joined Martynov for his birthday drink in a local pub.

“He told me he fancied me and he was interested in me and made two sets of keys and was going to sell them. He said he was going to sell them for fifty thousand pounds each and start a new life.

“It sounded like a joke and I did not take it seriously. It didn’t sound genuine.

“Later we had a beer on Wandsworth Common and he said he wanted to sell the keys  and that he had a buyer.

“He said there was a woman interested and that we could go to Trinidad, where | am from and have a comfortable life there.

“He was very serious and very determined and I kept it very casual and did not show him any reaction, but he was saying it one too many times so I reported him.

“There was an extremely flirtatious facebook element, but I deleted it and apologised to him,” added Ms Ghany. 

“He specifically told me he made a set of Class One and Class Two keys.”

There is no evidence Martynov used the moulds to manufacture keys, but after their discovery all the keys and locks in the entire prison were changed.

Judge Shetty told Martynov, who was supported in court by his wife and his brother: “You made moulds of three different types of prison keys using a form of quick-drying cement.

“The moulds could have been used to make keys that would open cells and wings, but was only discovered when you told a fellow worker about your activity and you were romantically interested in her.

“You said that you had a buyer lined up to pay £100,000 which would allow you to start a new life abroad.

“She was not interested in you and reported you also for your talk about importing mobile phones into prison for profit.

“I reject that these mould were made for fascination or interest. It was done for profit, although there is no evidence you ever had a buyer or made any money.

“Some of what you told her was boastful or bravado.

“This was in breach of a huge amount of trust placed in you.

“The moulds, which could have been used to make keys to the wings and cells, could potentially have led to prisoners escaping.

Back In The Nick: Martynov

“The very purpose and fabric of the building is to prevent prisoners escaping. This could have caused great damage to society and the public.”   

Mr Job told the court Martynov began working at HMP Wandsworth in April, 2017 and was fully trained in sensitive security procedures.

“He would be in possession of prison keys that he would collect at the start of his day’s work and have access to the wings and the cells.”

Police raided his former home in Earlsfield Road, Earlsfield on September 13, 2019.

“When officers searched a chest of drawers they found two blocks of cement, each bearing the impression of keys and he said they were moulds of prison keys,” explained Mr Job.

“He used quick-drying cement, but said he had no intention to supply them to anyone else.

“Using the keys one could get from the cell to the prison grounds with only the wall to scale and as a result all the keys and locks in the prison had to be replaced.”

Police also found two containers of cannabis, which Martynov claimed he bought from a cyclist in Wandsworth Park for £80 and he paid a £246 fine, plus a total of £107 in court costs on his first appearance.

With the assistance of an interpreter Martynov told the court he innocently made the moulds to assist his understanding of prison locks.

“The prisoners block the locks and I thought I could make a tool to open the locks, like a tool bit,” he explained.

“I wanted to train myself how to pick the locks, I wanted to know how prison locks work so I could complete call-outs quicker and go home.

“I made the moulds and one day took them home in my pocket. I did not want to throw them away in case someone recognised them as prison keys.

“I realised I made a stupid mistake and I wanted to smash the moulds when my wife was out, but I did not get the opportunity.”

Martynov laughed at the suggestion he could charge £50,000 per key, insisting he did not discuss this with Ms Ghany.

“About prison keys we talked nothing at all. We have not talked about prison keys,” he said. 

“It was a bad idea to make the moulds, I recognise that. That is why I took them out to destroy them.”

While on bail awaiting sentence Martynov travelled to his native Lithuania to attend his father’s funeral. 

“He carries an extra layer of guilt because it was news of this case, passing to his father in Lithuania, that led to the stroke that killed him,” said Ryan Brennan, defending.”

The lawyer questioned if the moulds would have been any use to the underworld.

“It is questionable if workable keys could have been made from these moulds. There is still a distance to be travelled from the making of these moulds to harm.

“He is likely to go back to Wandsworth today and that is likely to be very difficult for him. It may be like a prison officer going into custody and being on the other side of the glass.

“He made a catastrophic error, something that is out of character,” added Mr Brennan, asking the court to give credit for Martynov returning to the UK after the funeral and not being tempted to take flight in Lithuania. 

“He will suffer greatly as a result of this one mistake.”