A NURSE had sex with a prisoner during one-to-one “relaxation sessions” and helped him escape from a psychiatric unit, a hearing was told yesterday.

Joanne Holmes, 32, of Consett, County Durham, allegedly sent the inmate a birthday card which read: “I love you, truly, madly, deeply.”

She arranged for her lover’s escape from the Oswin Unit at St Nicholas Hospital, in Newcastle, providing him with a mobile phone that he hid in his sock, it was said.

Holmes was waiting in a car to drive the 35-year-old away after he fled the grounds of the hospital on August 7, 2006, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told.

The couple went to ground for four days before the man, known only as Patient A, returned to the hospital of his own accord, it was said.

Holmes was later cautioned by police for helping the man escape, but she could now be struck off if the panel finds her guilty of misconduct.

Cassandra Scarbrough, for the NMC, said Patient A was due for release in June 2006, but remained in hospital as he was not fit to leave.

“Nurse Abigail Watson was escorting patient A when he absconded from her care in the grounds of the hospital,”

said Ms Scarbrough.

Miss Watson later told boss Deborah Harris that Holmes was having a sexual relationship with Patient A and had helped him escape.

In a statement, nurse Lisa McKenzie told how she witnessed the escape.

She said: “I saw a man bend down and appeared to remove something from his left sock.

“I then saw him put the object up to his ear and realised it was a mobile phone.

“Suddenly, he started running towards a wall that divides the field from the road.

“I saw him climb over the wall and, as he did so, a blue vehicle pulled up and he got into the passenger side.”

Days later, Patient A returned to the ward and Miss Watson said she had been “bullied” into helping the lovers evade detection.

She said Holmes had been using her one-to-one relaxation therapy sessions with the offender to carry on their sexual relationship.

Ward team leader Deborah Harris said she was confronted by a “distressed” Miss Watson a few days after the patient returned, on August 14.

“She said Patient A and Joanne had been having a sexual relationship and confided that Joanne had helped him abscond and the pair had been living together when he was outside the hospital,” said Ms Harris.

The panel heard how Holmes sent a birthday card to the inmate, which read: “Hi Baby. I love you, truly, madly, deeply. You are my life, you are my future, you are my everything.

Love you baby and I will for the rest of my life. Not long now, I can’t wait to see you.”

Holmes and Miss Watson were arrested by police and suspended from the hospital.

The hearing continues.