Emma Arbabzadeh became infamous in 2008 when she was found guilty of luring Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old Jewish salesman, to his death at the hands of a gang of racist killers called 'The Barbarians'.
Emma Arbabzadeh charmed Ilan Halimi into meeting her for coffee after he finished work at a telephone shop in Paris. A gang called “The Barbarians” then bundled him into the trunk of a car and drove him to an empty apartment.
The gang tortured Halimi for weeks and demanded a ransom. Arbabzadeh was promised about $6,676 for her part in the plot.
Ilan Halimi was eventually found naked and tied to a tree outside Paris. He died before reaching the hospital.
When Arbabzadeh began a nine-year sentence at Versailles women's prison near Paris, A former prison governor, Goncalves is said to have selected her for 'special treatment'. He regularly had sex with her in prison, but is solely being charged with illicit correspondence, and giving an inmate presents.
But Goncalves's defence barrister, Pascal Garbarini, today told Versailles Correctional Court that his client had 'simply fallen in love and did not know how to control his passion'.
Arbabzadeh is herself facing a charge of receiving stolen goods, but her barrister told the court that she had solely received two mobile phone chips.
Dominique Attias said: 'There are thousands of mobile phones in prisons. But these cases don't all land up in court.'
Mr Attias said the sensational Barbarians case had turned Arbabzadeh into a criminal celebrity.
When other prisoners learned that she was having regular sex in the prison computer room, and in Goncalves's office, they complained.
This led to a police investigation, after which Goncalves, who is married with children, was forced to resign.
He was able to rekindle his relationship with Arbabzadeh when she was released in 2010. She had been let out for good behaviour after having been on remand since 2006.
Goncalves then wrote a book in which he discussed the affair, saying 'I did not regret it for a moment', although he admitted that it had ruined his reputation as a happy family man and 'humanitarian' prison governor.
Goncalves, who had been France's youngest ever prison governor, said Iranian-born Arbabzadeh had genuinely been in love with him.
In a case which shocked France, Arbabzadeh was still a teenager when, in January 2006, she used her good looks to lure Mr Halimi to a flat on the outskirts of Paris.
There he was tortured for three weeks before he died. A total of 27 people were convicted for playing a part in the murder, with anti-Semitism and profiting from a failed ransom plot cited as the motive.
