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.

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

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

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

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 had been considered to be a self-harm risk.

There were 78 prison suicides nationally in 2005 and 34 in the six months up to June 2006. In Bullingdon there was one suicide in 2003, two in 2004 and none in 2005.