Glamorous prison officer repeatedly told jailed gangster to 'stop' when he tried to have phone sex with her from his cell, court hears

A 'very pretty' prison officer repeatedly told a jailed gangster to 'stop' when he tried to have phone sex with her from his cell, a court was told.

Ruth Shmylo is accused of having a five-month fling with drug dealer Harri Pullen, 25, while she was working as a prison officer.

But the 26-year-old said she was scared of Pullen, a member of an organised crime gang, so wanted to 'give the impression' she was his friend, the court heard.

Shmylo told police she had engaged in phone sex with Pullen - and then told the jury the inmate tried to initiate it 'a handful of times' but she cried and told him to 'stop'.

The prison officer said Pullen had 'fixated' on her while working at the prison, repeatedly told her he loved her and threatened to kill her brother-in-law and her cats.

Shmylo told Cardiff Crown Court Pullen would ring her up to 70 times a day despite her attempts to cut him off.

She was sacked from her job at HMP Parc in Bridgend and Pullen was moved to another prison over their alleged affair.

Claire Wilks, defending, asked Shmylo: 'You told the police in your interview about phone sex. How many times did that happen please?' to which she replied 'a handful of times'.

She said: 'The first time when I came to be aware Harri was masturbating I asked him to stop. I repeatedly asked him to stop and I cried.

'It made him really angry and his exact words were: 'You're making out like I'm some kind of nonce.

'It was like I had insulted him because I was crying and I was repeatedly saying: 'I'm not doing this I'm not doing this.'

When telling the court how Pullen became 'fixated' with her, she said: 'I never wanted to give him the wrong impression. Harri Pullen is a fantasist.

'I would never be friends with somebody who threatened to kill my family, kill me, threaten me. I'd never be friends with Harri Pullen. If I could give the impression I cared about him it was the safest way to keep me and my family safe.'

The prison officer said she tried to cut him off but he didn't stop calling her.

She said: 'I had to answer the phone at that point. He was never going to stop ringing me.'

Shmylo was asked why she didn't tell prison bosses Pullen was ringing her in a meeting where she was being quizzed over her alleged affair.

She said: 'It wasn't safe for me to do so, all the staff and prisoners were aware I was going to my probationary meeting. If something happened, Harri Pullen would have known it was me.'

Pullen and Shmylo's alleged romance began after he passed a mobile number to her on a slip of paper inside the prison.

Shmylo told police she thought the number was a 'joke' but engaged in calls with Pullen after he threatened her.

But she was sacked from her job and Pullen moved to another prison after officials at the G4S-run jail became suspicious.

Calls Pullen made from HMP Manchester - also known as Strangeways - to Shmylo were then recorded with Pullen repeatedly telling her 'I love you.'

Shmylo was arrested in July 2021 and transcripts from her interview with officers were read at her misconduct trial.

After being told of the allegations, she told officers: 'I wasn't in a relationship with Harri Pullen.

'I had a good rapport with him. At one point when he was on my wing he passed a number to me.

'I said to him "what's that?" he said "you know what it is" I said "you're having a laugh" and left it at that.'

She said Pullen then told her: 'I'm a serious guy'.

She told the officers prison bosses told her complaints had been made that she had 'made sexual advances' to prisoners.

She said: 'Obviously they were untrue.'

Shmylo told police that Pullen threatened her saying: 'Nobody rejects me. Look at me I'm a f***ing model.'

She told police that when she rejected Pullen he threatened her brother-in-law who worked in another part of the prison.

She said: 'He made multiple threats to me since then. He said he knew my address, he would get my car blown up and that he would have my cats killed.'

She said she took the calls to 'pacify' him and told police she made multiple attempts to end their contact.

She said: 'I spoke to him almost to pacify him because I was terrified of him.'

Shmylo - described as being 'very pretty' - was sacked from her job at Parc Prison in Bridgend after failing her probation period there.

The court heard complaints about her included 'flirtatious' behaviour with inmates and wearing 'skin-tight trousers' to work.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said she should have reported Pullen for having a secret phone behind bars, but instead chose to ring him.

He said Pullen would contact Shmylo 'daily', and had also had phone sex with her and referred to her as his 'Mrs'.

He contacted her on her birthday wishing her 'happy birthday princess girl' and arranged for his mother to meet up with her.

Mr Cobbe told the court that after being arrested Shmylo admitted she had phone sex with Pullen.

Mr Cobbe said: 'She conceded during the course of her interview that she had had phone sex with the inmate.

'She explained this was principally the inmate saying things to her, noting that 'I was listening for the best part of it'.

'That means she was actively engaging in phone sex with the inmate - or some of it.'

The court heard Shmylo was employed at Parc Prison between August 2020 and April 2021 but failed her probation period and was 'released'.

Claire Wilks, defending, said Shmylo was a 'very pretty 23-year-old' who was at obvious risk of being manipulated by Pullen.

She said: 'He was a convicted drug dealer, it was an intelligence led operation, he's the member of an organised crime group. All those factors lead him to being a high risk and whilst he was in custody he was known to be a risk.'

Ms Wilks said Pullen had 'illicit phones' in prison and 'at one stage was thought to be in possession of an improvised gun'.

Shmylo previously told a jury there was no 'sexual' or 'physical' contact with Pullen - and that he had threatened her.

Shmylo told the court shortly after Pullen had phoned her mobile for the first time he told her she needed to meet his mum Lynette Baldwin.

'My options were either go and see her or "we're" going to come to where my mother and my brother lived,' she said.

The court previously heard Pullen's mother had been jailed for throwing drugs and mobile phones over a prison wall where her son was locked up inside.

Shmylo, of Treforest, Pontypridd, denies misconduct in a public office.

The trial continues.