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<\/p>\nPrison officer Ruth Shmylo felt "forced" to have phone sex with a prisoner as he "terrified" her, a court heard. <\/p>\n
The 26-year-old is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with inmate Harri Pullen, who was behind bars at HMP Parc in Bridgend while Shmylo was working there. <\/p>\n
A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard the prison officer felt like she had no choice but to go along with Pullen's requests, WalesOnline reports.<\/p>\n
The court heard the transcript of an interview between Shmylo and an officer at Queens Road Police station in Bridgend following her arrest. In it, Shmylo said: "I tried to stop contact with him and at one point he was calling me every day and I was trying to ignore his calls. It was just non stop. I spoke to him to pacify him. I was terrified of him.<\/p>\n
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"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\u2026I said: \u2018You are making me ill. Please, I am begging you, please leave me alone.\u2019"<\/p>\n
The court later heard how she told the officer she did not "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."<\/p>\n
She described to the officer during 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."<\/p>\n
Regarding the phone sex, she said: "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: \u2018Do you think I'm disgusting? Do you think I'm hanging?\u2019 He made it all about him."<\/p>\n
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Daniel Hayman, head of security at the prison, told the court earlier this week Shmylo had training on how to avoid conditioning, manipulation and exploitation at the hands of inmates.<\/p>\n
He said: "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."<\/p>\n
A meeting between Hayman and defendant Shmylo was conducted in January 2021, and her employment was terminated in April 2021 after she failed to pass her probationary period. <\/p>\n
Shmylo, of Lewis Street, Treforest, denies one count of misconduct in a public office. The trial continues.<\/p>\n
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