Leeds mental health nurse caught sending sexually explicit messages to prisoner inside Armley Jail

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) committee misconduct hearing took place to assess Cheryl Sutcliffe’s fitness to practice, after CCTV footage showed she also allowed another inmate to kiss and touch her.

The misconduct allegations arose in 2018 when Miss Sutcliffe was employed by Care UK in HM Leeds as a mental health nurse, according to an NMC report published after the hearing.

She was then caught being "overfamiliar" with one of the prisoners, referred to as Prisoner A, allowing him to kiss and touch her without challenging him, though she later said the CCTV footage shows him smelling her perfume.

She was suspended, but subsequently allowed to return to the role, the NMC report said.

But, in September of that year, a prison intelligence report alleged that Miss Sutcliffe had been going into prisoners' cells and engaging in flirtatious behaviour. She was suspended and resigned from her role that same month.

In November 2018, the prison security department searched the cell of an inmate, referred to as Prisoner M, and found correspondence allegedly from Miss Sutcliffe, in the form of letters and a Jail Mate greeting card.

In one of the letters, she said: “I can’t wait to get my hands on you”.

“Don’t be flirting with any of them nurses in there,” it added.

Another letter inferred that she would be annoyed if the inmate engaged in a sexual act with someone else.

“Although I wouldn’t say owt,” part of the letter read. “But I don’t want you doing owt like that before I’ve had a chance to get my hands on you.” [sic]

According to the NMC report, evidence given by a security officer at the prison stated: "I have seen the card and confirm that the woman in the picture is the Registrant.

"Following interception of the card a search was conducted of Prisoner M’s cell and further letters were found. These intercepted letters also appeared to be addressed from the Registrant to Prisoner M and appeared to indicate that there was an unprofessional relationship between the Registrant and Prisoner M.”

Jail Mate is an online card company that specialises in greetings cards for incarcerated loved ones.

Miss Sutcliffe said she had sent letters and the card to the prisoner after she had resigned from her position at the prison.

The report added: "Considering all the information the panel concluded that it is more likely than not, on the balance of probabilities, that Miss Sutcliffe did not maintain professional boundaries with Prisoner M, in that she sent personal letters and ‘jail mate card’ to him.

"The panel rejected Miss Sutcliffe’s submission that it was appropriate behaviour to attempt to form a relationship in this way by sending these letters and card as she was no longer employed by the Prison. This was a serious breach of professional boundaries."

In coming to a decision, the NMC noted that Miss Sutcliffe continued to behave inappropriately towards the prisoner, despite being suspended earlier in the year after behaving inappropriately with another inmate.

The report added: "The panel determined that on both occasions Miss Sutcliffe abused her privileged position and that her behaviour had the potential to adversely affect the wellbeing of the prisoners, particularly Prisoner M.

"The panel considered that a fellow member of the nursing profession would consider Miss Sutcliffe’s actions as deplorable."

A statement given to the panel by Miss Sutcliffe claimed she had enrolled on a "Level 2 course in 'Professional Boundaries in Health and Social Care'", but the report said the panel had been given no evidence the training had taken place, despite it being four years since the incidents.

The report concluded: "The panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order.

"Having regard to the effect of Miss Sutcliffe’s actions in bringing the profession into disrepute by adversely affecting the public’s view of how a registered nurse should conduct herself, the panel has concluded that nothing short of this would be sufficient in this case.

"The panel considered that this order was necessary to mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession, and to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the standard of behaviour required of a registered nurse."

An interim suspension order of 18 months was also made. Miss Sutcliffe has 28 days to appeal against the order.