Glam jail officer felt ‘compelled’ to have cellphone intercourse with lag who ‘terrified’ her

Prison officer Ruth Shmylo felt “forced” to have cellphone intercourse with a prisoner as he “terrified” her, a court docket heard.

The 26-year-old is accused of getting an inappropriate relationship with inmate Harri Pullen, who was behind bars at HMP Parc in Bridgend whereas Shmylo was working there.

A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard the jail officer felt like she had no selection however to go together with Pullen’s requests, WalesOnline reviews.

The court docket heard the transcript of an interview between Shmylo and an officer at Queens Road Police station in Bridgend following her arrest. In it, Shmylo stated: “I attempted to cease contact with him and at one level he was calling me daily and I used to be attempting to disregard his calls. It was simply non cease. I spoke to him to pacify him. I used to be petrified of him.

“Even to the point when he went to Manchester prison – I told him I was moving to Australia and out of the country hoping that would try to get him to stop. He just wouldn’t get it…I said: ‘You are making me ill. Please, I am begging you, please leave me alone.’”

The court docket later heard how she instructed the officer she didn’t “have feelings” for Pullen. She added: “I was scared of him. [He was known as] someone to take seriously. Everyone knew what he was like. He was feared by staff and feared by prisoners.”

She described to the officer through the interview how Pullen threatened to kill her cat. She added: “I thought about telling my sister and my mum. All the thoughts went through my head. I thought I would just quit my job, but I thought it would just make him angry. Even when they sacked me from the prison, it was like I abandoned him.”

Regarding the cellphone intercourse, she stated: “He kept trying to say rude things on the phone to me and I was saying no. At one point I cried on the phone and I said I don’t want to do this with you. This is disgusting. It angered me. He said: ‘Do you think I’m disgusting? Do you think I’m hanging?’ He made it all about him.”

Daniel Hayman, head of safety on the jail, instructed the court docket earlier this week Shmylo had coaching on learn how to keep away from conditioning, manipulation and exploitation by the hands of inmates.

He stated: “They may attempt to corner staff in a manner that might force them to be separated from their colleagues, to force them to do something they might not otherwise do.”

A gathering between Hayman and defendant Shmylo was carried out in January 2021, and her employment was terminated in April 2021 after she did not move her probationary interval.

Shmylo, of Lewis Street, Treforest, denies one rely of misconduct in a public workplace. The trial continues.

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