A Romeo prisoner who had a fling with a prison nurse and phone sex with a guard escaped custody with the help of a female getaway driver, a court has heard.
Gang member Harri Pullen, 27, had been in a relationship with jail nurse Elyse Hibbs, 27, and engaged in phone sex with prison officer Ruth Shmylo, 26, over a four-year period in HMP Parc, Bridgend, Wales.
He was later freed from prison only to be caught dealing drugs on an e-bike just months later on April 2 this year.
After being arrested by police, he was taken to The Grange University Hospital in handcuffs where he escaped and ran through the car park before being driven away in a getaway car.
Sian Bates, 42, of Bettws, Newport, has now admitted assisting an offender by aiding Pullen’s hospital escape and acting as his driver.
Pullen was on the run for a week before he was traced to a remote farmhouse and arrested again.
Bates, of Newport, is due to be sentenced on February 12. She has been granted unconditional bail.
Former prison nurse Elyse Hibbs, 27, was previously jailed for her inappropriate relationship with Pullen when he was behind bars.
Gang member Harri Pullen, 27, of no fixed abode, had a fling with a prison nurse and phone sex with a guard before later also escaping from custody
Pullen was injured while resisting arrest, before escaping from police while still in handcuffs after making a run for it at the hospital
Ruth Shmylo, 26, was sacked from her job as a prison officer over the alleged romance with Pullen after he called her for phone sex from his cell, but was cleared of any criminality during a trial.
A court heard Pullen had been free for a matter of months when he was injured resisting officers who caught him drug-dealing on an e-bike and was taken to hospital for checks.
Pullen was still wearing handcuffs when he made a run through the carpark and ambulance bays of the hospital in Cwmbran, Gwent, and jumped into a ‘getaway car’ to flee.
He had been arrested after plain-clothed officers saw two men acting suspiciously riding an e-bike through Newport city centre.
Prosecutor Alex Granville told a previous hearing Pullen was found with five wraps of crack cocaine, a burner phone, an iPhone and £90 inside a black bum bag.
He said: ‘The defendant was conveyed to custody but after complaining of head pain he was transported by police for medical care.’
Mr Granville said that while at Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, Gwent, four female relatives tried to visit Pullen but were told they were ‘unable to stay.’
He added: ‘Having been taken out to the van he asked to use the toilet so was taken back inside. Upon having used the toilet and exiting the building the defendant ran off from officers.
Pullen had an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with prison nurse Elyse Hibbs, 27, while an inmate at HMP Parc
Pullen also had phone sex with prison guard Ruth Shmylo, 26 – she was sacked from her role but was cleared of any criminality
‘They proceeded to run after the defendant. He ran through the car park and ambulance park, down the ramp and towards the exit of the hospital.
‘After about 20 seconds of running the officers were about 20 meters behind the defendant who was still in handcuffs in a front position.
‘At this point a vehicle appeared to reverse up the ramp from the exit of the hospital, the passenger door was opened and the defendant got in and it left at high speed.’
Newport Crown Court heard that when Pullen was eventually discovered at the farm he tried to flee again – this time driving off in a Mercedes but police followed the car to a cul-de-sac.
Pullen then tried to run away on foot but was ‘red-dotted’ with a taser and ‘eventually complied’ when a police dog joined the hunt.
Julia Cox, defending, said Pullen was ‘immature’ and suffered from ‘hypochondria’ believing that he has had a brain tumour for approximately four years.
She added: ‘This was not anything that was pre-planned. It was more opportunistic than that.’
‘It was upon his family’s attendance at the hospital he in his words “lost his head”.’
Pullen pleaded guilty to 11 charges including possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, dangerous driving, and escaping lawful custody.
At court earlier this year, he appeared via videolink from Cardiff Prison and was seen playing with his hair and chatting with prison officers throughout the hearing.
Pulled spent a week at large and was eventually discovered hiding in a countryside farmhouse outside Newport, south Wales
Bodycam footage shows the moment Pullen sped past officers in the Mercedes after being tracked to a farmhouse, and was arrested once more after being threatened with a Taser and police dog
Judge Daniel Williams jailed Pullen, of no fixed abode, for a total of six years in May 2025.
He told him: ‘Police saw you on an electric bike with another in the centre of Newport on March 26.
‘You were riding the bike and in possession of crack cocaine, some five wraps, as well as a quantity of cash and two phones, one of which was a burner phone.
‘In custody you complained of head pain so you were taken to Grange Hospital where when you were walking to the police van having left hospital you made off.
‘You got into what’s best described as a getaway car and spent seven days at large.
‘You were ultimately arrested on the 2nd April but not before you involved yourself in a police chase of sorts.’
At the end of the hearing Pullen said: ‘Thank you and I apologise.’
During Shmylo’s trial in December 2023 the court heard Pullen had been moved to HMP Manchester – also known as Strangeways – and added her 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.’
She was sacked from her job after other complaints involving ‘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 Shmylo should have been treated as a whistleblower but was instead ‘hung out to dry’ by bosses at the controversial HMP Parc 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.
Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe told the court that after being arrested Shmylo admitted she had phone sex with Pullen.
Hibbs, pictured, met the prisoner while giving him medical treatment in her jail, and he contacted her on Instagram
Shmylo, pictured, was a prison whistleblower, a court heard, who Pullen ‘fixated’ on and forced her to take his calls
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.’
Shmylo told the jury she cried when Pullen tried to initiate phone sex.
Ms Wilks 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.’
Shmylo, of Treforest, Pontypridd was cleared of one charge of misconduct in a public office.
Nurse Hibbs claimed she was ‘pressurised’ into flirting with Pullen – 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.
Qualified health worker Hibbs met the prisoner while giving him medical treatment in jail and he then contacted her on Instagram.
Mr Cobbe 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.
‘He tells her that he loves her and she tells him that she loves him too. The calls included references to the defendant’s existing partner and the inmate continuously suggested he would replace him and be in a relationship with 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 Pullen.
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.’
Mr Sharp said Hibbs had ‘dedicated a significant part of her adult life’ to nursing but her conviction meant she would be banned from the profession.
Recorder of Cardiff Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, told Hibbs: ‘You knew what you were doing was wrong, you had training but nevertheless you went ahead and formed what was clearly an emotional relationship with this prisoner.
‘Although you were young you held a position of responsibility as a nurse and as a member of prison staff. You failed to report initial contact despite advice from a colleague and training you had had.
‘You engaged in flirtatious relationship initially, you failed to report the on-going contact and you failed to report that this inmate had upon him and in custody an unlawful device.’
