Did Joan actually go to prison in real life?

sophie turner as joan
Did Joan really go to prison? ITV

Our obsession with ITV's Joan shows no sign of letting up. From the growing love story between Joan and Boisie, to Joan's enviable 80s wardrobe and of course all the tense undercover dealings going on, we cannot get enough of the series. One thing we're less obsessed with? Joan ending up in prison. But in real life did she actually go to jail?

In the fourth episode of the series, after tying the knot, Joan and Boisie attempt to sell the Stubbs painting they stole in the previous episode to the IRA. Earlier in the episode Joan is visited by the undercover policeman who offers her a way out of criminal dealings, with the promise if she sells Boisie out, Joan will avoid jail.

She ignores his warning and doesn't take the offer. Instead she takes on the disguise of an art expert and helps Boisie to sell the painting to the IRA. She heads to a hotel room with one of the members and evaluates the painting. After confirming it's an original painting, the IRA agree to take the painting off Boisie's hands, but not pay him for it. Joan and the IRA member are just leaving the hotel room when the police storm the room.

sophie turner as joan
ITV

Joan is arrested, taken to custody and not given bail, and finds herself in jail. But did that actually happen in real life?

Did Joan go to prison in real life?

In her memoir I Am What I Am the real Joan Hannington revealed she only went to prison once in her life, but it was for a different case, not the one in the series.

In real life Joan was arrested and sent to jail for 30 months for using a stolen cheque book. She went to jail two weeks after her wedding to Boisie. After serving her sentence she then got a job at a jewellery shop and carried on stealing jewels.

In the series we do see Joan use a stolen chequebook to purchase clothes and take herself out for fancy meals and drinks, however, she never gets arrested for using this.

And in real life the thieving of the Stubbs painting didn't actually happen, but was created purely for the series.

Joan is available on ITV1 and ITVX

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