A prisoner was found hanged at Bullingdon Prison less than 48 hours before he was to be sentenced for burglary.

John Hughes, 31, from the Cowley area, was the second prisoner to be found dead at the prison, near Bicester, in just over a week.

Last Tuesday, Hilary Sanyika, also 31, of Cave Street, Oxford, was also found hanging in his cell. He had been accused of two rapes.

Mr Hughes had been on remand for burglary since September 11. He was found dead in his cell by prison staff on Tuesday.

He had admitted breaking into a house in Peppercorn Avenue, Oxford, on July 12 last year and stealing £1,000. He was to be sentenced with co-defendant Christopher Joyce, 34, of Golf Course Lane, Leicester, at Oxford Crown Court today (Thursday).

A Prison Service spokesman said staff attempted to resuscitate Mr Hughes and paramedics were called but he was pronounced dead at 9.16pm.

"The cause of death appears to be hanging," the spokesman said.

Police, the coroner, and next of kin have been informed and the prisons' and probation ombudsman will carry out an inquiry.

Bullingdon's deputy governor Nigel Atkinson would not reveal whether Mr Hughes was considered to be a self-harm or suicide risk.

However he said that following the burglar's death, prison officials had reviewed the cases of all prisoners considered at risk.

He said: "Clearly after the tragic death of Mr Hughes we are aware of the need to support all prisoners as appropriate."

The deaths come a month after the Oxford Mail interviewed Bullingdon's new governor, Phil Taylor, about plans for a new 120-man residential block.

Earlier this year the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee called for contingency plans to deal with overcrowding at the prison, where there were 952 inmates - 205 more than it was built to hold.

Mr Taylor was not at work yesterday, but Mr Atkinson said work on the new block could begin in the new year.

He said: "We have a very detailed and wide-ranging strategy to prevent prison deaths. Every single death is a terrible tragedy for the person's friends and family."

Following the death of Mr Hughes, the chairman of the prison's Independent Monitoring Board, Ian Wilkinson, visited Bullingdon.