Prisoners in Oxfordshire are to be urged to grass on each other in a bid to cut crime.

The move follows the launch of a crime-fighting hotline.

Anyone with information about any crime, big or small, can now call in anonymously with a tip-off - and that could soon include inmates at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, and five other Thames Valley prisons.

Prisons watchdog, the Prison Reform Trust, warned last night that the scheme should be carefully monitored in case informants were exposed and became subject to reprisals.

Thames Valley Police joined forces with the business community, including the Oxford Mail and other organisations, yesterday to launch the new Crimestoppers line, with the freephone number 0800 555 111.

It was revealed at the launch meeting at Unipart in Cowley that the initiative is likely to be introduced in the region's six prisons next month, including Bullingdon near Bicester. Roy Trustram Eve, chairman of the Thames Valley Crimestoppers regional board, said: "Our plans are well afoot to launch Crime- stoppers in a specialist manner in all six prisons."

But Claire Sparks, policy officer for the Prison Reform Trust, warned that the scheme would need to be carefully con- trolled.

"Some prisoners are known to be grasses. If other inmates are suspicious that they are calling Crimestoppers, it could lead to violence," she said.

Next month, posters are expected to go up in jails encouraging prisoners to dial the hotline with information about any crime.

The scheme has already been introduced in more than 70 prisons nationwide.

David Robinson, director of residential through-care at Bullingdon Prison, which has 900 Category B to C inmates, said: "There is a wealth of information in prisons about crimes, and this is a source that we plan to tap."

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