A FORMER prison nurse has been acquitted of stalking an ex-inmate.

Ashleigh Naylor denied bombarding the man with texts, calls and messages on social media following his release from prison.

The 30-year-old was also accused of contacting his family, associates and customers by turning up to his home and place of work uninvited.

But following a brief hearing at Teesside Crown Court, Naylor, of Newlands Road, Skelton Green, Saltburn, was acquitted after the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence.

She was previously handed a 12-month suspended sentence after she admitted aiding and abetting the unauthorised possession of a mobile phone in prison.

The court heard she struck up a relationship with prisoner Paul Lane at HMP Holme House in Stockton and sent him codes to top up the unauthorised phone – but the fling was discovered when she blurted out the secret to a colleague when drunk.