If you’re a young lady who’s into bad boys, there’s no better place to find them than in the prison system. Unfortunately, this always ends badly when female prison officers are inevitably caught carrying on affairs with inmates, but one former PO has been vindicated today after being cleared of such misconduct at Cardiff Crown Court.

Ruth Shmylo, 26, was on trial over her relationship with Harri Pullen, 24, while working at HMP Parc in Bridgend, Wales. She was accused of having phone sex with the inmate, a convicted drug dealer, and meeting his mum.

During the trial, Ruth said what the prosecution described as “phone sex” with Harri Pullen was actually sexual harassment.

She explains: “The first time, when I came to be aware that Harri was masturbating when I was on the phone, I asked him to stop. I repeatedly asked him to stop. I perceived to be sexual harassment, he perceives to be phone sex. I cried, I asked him to stop. That’s what I did.”

The prosecution questioned why Ruth could be heard laughing during several of the phone conversations with Pullen that were heard by the jury.

She explained it was an “uncomfortable laugh” and the “alternative to a light-hearted conversation [was] him threatening to kill me”.

She also denied giving Pullen a “cwtch” (a hug), saying his grandmother had died and he “quite literally fell into [her] arms, grief-stricken”. “His perception of that is that it was a cwtch,” she added. So, the hug was forced too, as well as the phone sex.

The part I’m confused about is that she met this lad’s mum on the outside, but there’s no mention of that in the ‘Not Guilty’ report from Sky News, even though it was in the headline of the original reports when Ruth initially stood trial. Older articles on the story also claim Ruth Shmylo was sacked from HMP Parcs following concerns about her relationships with more than one inmate, but again, this doesn’t seem to have been a factor in the trial.

Either way, heartbreaking stuff for convicted drug dealer Harri Pullen, who is now left to serve out the rest of his sentence with no phone sex sessions or cwtches from pretty prison guards. A sad, sad day for love indeed.

To meet the Manchester grandma exposed as the notorious ‘Mrs Big’ smuggling spice into prisons around the UK, click HERE.