Criminal who ‘had fling with prison nurse and guard' now on the run
A criminal who had flings with a prison officer and a jail nurse at the same time is now wanted by police.
Harri Pullen, 27, is on the run after leaving a Cwmbran hospital where he was taken on Wednesday following his arrest on suspicion of drug dealing, police said.
Four women, aged 28, 31, 41 and 58 were later arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. The 58-year-old was released on bail but the other three remain in police custody, according to Gwent Police.
Pullen was picked up by 'someone in a black Vauxhall Insignia' from the Grange University Hospital at 3.45pm after an arrest on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
While previously in jail, Pullen had an 'inappropriate relationship' with prison nurse Elyse Hobbs, 27, and repeatedly phoned prison officer Ruth Shmylo, 26, to tell he he loved her, in a series of calls.
Ms Shmylo was accused of having a five-month relationship with Pullen – and calls between them were recorded by prison bosses.
Ms Shmylo was cleared of wrongdoing following a nine-day trial in December 2023.
She was sacked from her job at HMP Parc in Bridgend after officials at the G4S-run jail discovered their alleged affair.
Pullen was moved to HMP Manchester – also known as Strangeways – and added Ms Shmylo to his approved calls list but their conversations were recorded by officials.
The calls, played to the court, included Pullen repeatedly telling her 'I love you'.
The court heard complaints about her included 'flirtatious' behaviour with inmates and wearing 'skin-tight trousers' to work.
But the court heard she had previously made corruption reports of her own against other staff who were colluding with inmates to tamper with prisoners' food.
Claire Wilks, defending, said Ms Shmylo should have been treated as a whistleblower but was instead 'hung out to dry' by prison bosses and called 'a grass' by her colleagues and assaulted.
Ms Wilks said it was no surprise that given her previous treatment at the jail she wouldn't report phone calls with Pullen as she feared the consequences.
Ms Shmylo, of Treforest, Pontypridd, was cleared of one charge of misconduct in a public office.
Prison nurse Elyse-May Hibbs, 25, was one of two alleged romances with female jail staff by 'manipulative' inmate Pullen behind bars.
Hibbs was jailed after her relationship with Pullen while he was serving time for being part of a drugs gang.
The nurse claimed she was 'pressurised' into flirting with him – but a judge sent her to prison for six months.
After being released, Hibbs was taken to disciplinary hearing by the Nursing Midwifery Council to decide if she was fit to carry on her career.
The hearing found that her 'fitness to practise' was impaired by her conviction, and she was handed a 12-month suspension order.
This means that she may practice nursing again once the order is lifted.
Qualified health worker Hibbs met the prisoner while giving him medical treatment in jail and he contacted her on Instagram.
Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said jail chiefs suspected the inmate was involved in an inappropriate relationship at the prison so transferred him to HMP Manchester.
But investigators then found Hibbs' phone number on Pullen's approved calls list for inmates.
Mr Cobbe said: 'Having been moved the inmate's calls were monitored in HMP Manchester and it was quite plain the relationship with this defendant was being nurtured by the inmate.
'He contacted the defendant very many times and the bulk of it occurred when she was employed at HMP Parc.'
Mr Cobbe said the inmate used his mother and a friend to initiate contact with Hibbs after he searched for her on Instagram.
He said: 'The calls between them were flirtatious. They talk about the prison, staff within the prison, he tells her that he loves her and she tells him he doesn't know her to love her.'
Cardiff Crown Court heard the two swapped messages on Instagram by contacting each other through an account held by the inmate's friend.
Hibbs quit her post at HMP Parc in July 2021 and was arrested a week later and admitted exchanging messages with the prisoner.
She told police she was scared to end the contact after he had previously threatened her.
Mr Cobbe said: 'She explained that she and the inmate were never in a sexual relationship of any kind at all.
'She accepted she should have reported the matter but that she got in too deep and couldn't get out.'
Hibbs, of Newbridge, Gwent, admitted misconduct in a public office.
Adam Sharp, defending Hibbs, said the prisoner was known within the system to be a 'particularly manipulative individual'.
He said: 'She was young, impressionable, inexperienced and vulnerable to the malign influence of the inmate who sought to exploit her.'
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