A senior nurse started a relationship with a vulnerable patient and slept overnight at her home, an inquiry heard.

Shaun Castle, 45, made more than 140 home visits to the woman and regularly phoned her when he was off duty, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Witnesses saw his car parked outside her house opposite Hartlepool Hospital early in the morning before he arrived for work. He also sent greetings cards to her with personal messages and had Christmas dinner with Miss A and her parents, the hearing was told.

Mr Castle, a registered mental nurse, was intensive home treatment team manager at the Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust.

He was treating the woman patient, who had borderline personality disorder and had a history of self-harm, hallucinations and childhood sexual abuse.

She tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose at the time of the allegations, the hearing was told.

Mr Castle faces two charges of professional misconduct over his behaviour between December 1998 and February last year.

Shirley Scott, solicitor for the NMC, said the allegations came to light when Mr Castle was promoted to a new post as practice development coordinator.

"Client A said they had strong feelings for each other and he had spent time with her and her family at Christmas 2000," she said.

"Mr Castle denied giving her the impression he had feelings for her and said he had been aware how unhappy Miss A was about him changing job.

'He admitted he had visited her parents as part of her care plan, to improve her relationship with her parents.'

The initial investigation was concluded with no further action in March, last year, but Miss A then made further allegations.

On March 12, Miss A was admitted to hospital with an overdose and produced a number of greetings cards from Mr Castle.

Miss Scott said: "When he was asked if there had been any physical contact, he said he had perhaps given her a kiss on the side of the cheek.

"He said on one occasion he had been to the pub with her and her parents and stayed overnight at their home because he had been drinking.

"He had slept on a sofa while she slept in a chair in the same room."

Investigators then discovered he had made 140 home visits - which Mr Castle insisted had always been for a reason - such as Miss A experiencing flashbacks to her sexual abuse or having bad dreams.

Mr Castle, who was not present at the hearing, denies forming an inappropriate relationship with Miss A.

He also denies failing to record all his visits to the home of Miss A's parents.

The hearing continues.