A nurse who exchanged thousands of texts with with an incarcerated sex offender has walked free from court.

Rachel Donegan, 26, worked as a mental health nurse at HMP Liverpool, where Lloyd Senior was behind bars for sexual assaulting a teacher in 2015.

The 28-year-old was sentenced to 30 months at the Walton prison after chasing his victim through Kensington, shouting: ‘I’m going to shag you’.

A nurse at HMP Liverpool who exchanged thousands of texts and phone calls with a sex offender walked free from court. Liverpool Crown Court did not hear the reason why Rachael Donegan became so friendly with Lloyd Senior at Walton prison. Caption: Lloyd Senior, formerly of Deysbrook Lane, West Derby, now of Onslow Road, Kensington
Lloyd Senior was serving a sentence of 30 months after sexual assaulting a teacher (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

He then tackled the woman to the floor, ripped her clothes off and sexually assaulted her in the terrifying cocaine, ketamine and alcohol-fuelled street attack.

At the time Senior was on licence, having previously been locked up for five years for possessing a semi-automatic gun and ammunition.

Almost a year into his sentence on September 29 2016, the defendant was found to be in possession of a mobile phone.

It was discovered he had been in contact with two phone numbers over an eight-week period between August and September – both of which belonged to Donegan, of Linton Street, Walton.

Senior had communicated with the nurse 7,678 times.

Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court: ‘She had come into contact with the co-accused during the course of her duties as a nurse.

‘She told the police she had given him her number, in what she described as a very foolish act.

‘She understood inmates shouldn’t have mobile phones and when she became aware he did have one, she should have reported it to the authorities, but did not.’

It is not alleged that Senior used the phone for other criminal purposes such as drug dealing or witness intimidation.

Nicholas Walker, defending said that Donegan denied supplying Senior with the mobile and had ‘very difficult domestic circumstances’ which were not stated in court.

A general view of Liverpool Crown Court, Derby Square, Liverpool.
The nurse was handed a 12-month community order, with 40 hours of unpaid work (Picture: PA)

 

She was fired from her job at the prison, having worked there for nine months.

Donegan, who has no previous convictions, admitted encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.

Judge Anil Murray accepted that she was remorseful and handed her a 12-month community order, with 40 hours of unpaid work.

‘You’ve been very foolish. You were a nurse in a position of responsibility at HMP Liverpool,’ he said.

‘Examination showed lots of contact between him and you. The prosecution case is you assisted him using his mobile phone by communicating with him.

‘This was serious because you were in a position of responsibility. You must have known that phones in prison are put to misuse.

‘Fortunately for you, this was not a phone used for drug dealing or to commit other serious offences and that is important. You could be in a more serious position now.’

Senior admitted possession of a specified item and transmission without authority from within prison and was handed a 12-month community order, with 100 hours of unpaid
work.

The criminal, of Onslow Road, Kensington, has 11 previous convictions for 18 offences, including the July 2015 sex attack.

‘You have got a bad record. You need to stop committing offences, otherwise you will find yourself serving longer sentences,’ Judge Murray said.

‘Unlawful mobile phones can cause serious problems to prison discipline and can be used to commit other offences, for example drug dealing and witness intimidation.

‘However, I accept the phone was not used for crime and was for social use. That has made a significant difference to how I view this case.’

Got a story for Metro.co.uk?

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.