A PRISON officer who had phone sex with a convicted gangster was cleared of having an illegal relationship with the prisoner.

Ruth Shmylo, 26, claimed she was living in fear of drug dealer Harri Pullen, 25, while working at a category B prison.

She was accused of having a five-month inappropriate relationship with Pullen - and calls between them were recorded by prison bosses.

But she claimed she was "terrified" of Pullen and took his calls to appease him after he threatened her family.

Shmylo was sacked from her job at HMP Parc in Bridgend and Pullen moved to another prison after officials at the G4S-run jail over their alleged affair.

Pullen was moved to HMP Manchester - also known as Strangeways - and added Shmylo to his approved calls list but their conversations were recorded by officials.

South Wales Argus: Shmylo was sacked from her job at HMP Parc in Bridgend Shmylo was sacked from her job at HMP Parc in Bridgend (Image: Wales News Service)

South Wales Argus: Shmylo was accused of having an illegal relationship with gangster Harri PullenShmylo was accused of having an illegal relationship with gangster Harri Pullen (Image: Wales News Service)

The calls, played to the court, included Pullen repeatedly telling Shmylo "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 prisoner's food.

Shmylo told the jury she cried when Pullen tried to initiate phone sex.

Claire Wilks, defending, asked her: "Did you have any sexual arousal from the phone calls?"

Shmylo answered: "No. 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 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.”

South Wales Argus: Shmylo told the jury she cried when Pullen tried to initiate phone sexShmylo told the jury she cried when Pullen tried to initiate phone sex (Image: Wales News Service)

Ms Wilks said 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.

She said: "She called out a regime of corruption, she called out a regime of food tampering. Pretty disgusting isn't it? The type of thing you might see in some sort of Netflix drama.

"A 23-year-old young woman who had nine weeks of training was brave enough to call that out. And look what she got in return. She was called a grass, assaulted, slapped on the bottom, degraded, humiliated."

South Wales Argus: The court heard complaints about her included flirtatious behaviour with inmates The court heard complaints about her included flirtatious behaviour with inmates (Image: Wales News Service)

Prosecutor Matthew 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."

Judge Simon Mills told the jury: "Ruth Shmylo will return to her life having endured this experience."

Shmylo, of Treforest, Pontypridd was cleared of one charge of misconduct in a public office.