HEFFERNAN-STONE: PRISON NURSE CLAIMS SHE WAS ASSAULTED BY AFFAIR PAITENT
Central News, Press Room, Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, LONDON, EC4.
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Nursing and Midwifery Council/ Siba Matti
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http://www.CourtNewsUK.co.uk
15 November, 2011
crawl…1
A prison nurse accused of having an affair with a patient claims he sexually assaulted her when they went on a drunken pub crawl, a hearing was told today (Tues).
Emma Heffernan-Stone, 27, embarked on a three-week fling with the man after he was jailed for knife possession and domestic violence towards his ex-girlfriend, it was said.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council has heard Heffernan-Stone told the recovering drug addict, he was ‘hot’ and groped his crotch during one-to-one sessions.
They first had sex in the back of her car in a car park in Walsall on May 15, 2009, then romped at her home the following morning.
According to colleagues the pair were seen chatting at the Plough and Harrow and White Hart pubs in Wolverhampton, May 22, 2009.
One co-worker saw the pair kissing in a shop doorway at the end of the night.
But when questioned by her line manager Heffernan-Stone claimed her drink was spiked and that Patient A had grabbed her by the wrist, leaving a bruise, and touched her breast.
She also posted on social networking site Facebook that she had to go to hospital after the attack, it was said.
Just days before the pub crawl, on May 15, Heffernan-Stone allegedly took Patient A to a car park in Walsall for sex, before bedding him at home the following day.
She is also accused of telling Patient A that he was ‘hot’, groping his crotch and saying she was prepared to lie about his drug tests being positive.
Heffernan-Stone faces a string of 14 charges, amounting to 42 separate allegations, relating to her work as a senior addictions nurse for the prison liaison team at Horizon House, part of Wolverhampton City NHS Trust.
The affair, between April and May, 2009, is said to have taken place under the nose of Heffernan-Stone’s husband, Craig, who also worked at the centre in Pitt Street, Wolverhampton.
Heffernan-Stone’s former line manager, Angela Zegnani, told the tribunal: ‘On Tuesday, May 26 – the first day back after a bank holiday weekend – Emma was sitting in my office looking withdrawn.
‘I asked if she was ok and she said yes, but I wasn’t convinced and later found her crying at her desk.
‘She told me she was going to resign because another colleague had been saying things about Friday night.
‘We went for a walk alone and she showed me the bruise on her wrist, and told me a patient had assaulted her.
‘She said it happened when they were in the door way of a shop and he was holding her by her arm, and that he was touching her breast.
‘She said that colleagues walked past her but did not help.’
Mrs Zegnani added that Heffernan-Stone said she ‘couldn’t remember much’ but didn’t want to get the police involved.
‘She told me she received a text message from Patient A saying he loved her and she wondered if she had done anything to encourage him.
‘She said she thought someone had spiked her drink on Friday because she couldn’t remember certain things about the night.
‘After Emma was suspended I took over responsibility for Patient A until he was reassigned to another key worker.
‘On June 10, 2009, he told me had not slept for three days because he was so worried about the ongoing investigation.
‘He said Emma was calling him and hanging up – he was sure it was her as she was the only one who had that particular mobile phone number.
‘He was concerned that she would report the allegation that he sexually assaulted her and that he would be sent back to prison.
‘He also said she told him she knew people who could sort him out.’
If Heffernan-Stone is found guilty of the charges against her, she could be suspended or struck off from the profession.
The hearing continues.
ENDS.
