A prisoner hanged himself from his bunk bed using his shoelaces, an inquest heard yesterday.

Hilary Sanyika, 31, was at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, awaiting trial for serious sexual offences when he was found dead on September 18, 2006.

His cellmate Michael Woolwine told Oxford Coroner's Court Mr Sanyika, who was born in Zimbabwe and had previously been living in Cave Street, St Clement's, Oxford, had been growing concerned about the length of time it was taking for his trial to reach court.

The inquest heard he had been on remand for 10 months.

His solicitor Mohammed Khan told the inquest that Mr Sanyika's estranged partner had started preventing their son from visiting him in prison.

The inquest was set to continue today.