A traveller family who believe they are being kept in the dark about their relative's death in custody staged a protest outside Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, on Friday.

Danny Rooney was found dead in his cell on September 26, less than 48 hours before he was due in court for sentencing for burglary - the day before his 39th birthday.

The father-of-eight, from Hollow Way, in Cowley, Oxford, was the second person to be found hanged at the Bicester jail in the space of a week.

About 60 family and friends staged a peaceful protest at the prison, under the watchful eye of 10 uniformed police officers. They believe he was not the sort of man to kill himself and have questioned his treatment at the prison.

His widow and the mother of their eight children, Ann, said: "He was a Roman Catholic, he was totally against suicide. No-one will tell us what happened to him and we want answers."

Mr Rooney's mother, also called Ann, said: "Every mother knows their child. My son was a very loving and proud man. He was very close to all his children and his wife.

"We'll probably never know what really happened that night. But I know it wasn't suicide."

His sister Kathleen Rooney, one of 14 siblings, said: "The prison won't tell us anything. We have been left in the dark. Whatever it takes, we will get to the bottom of it. We want to know the truth."

Another sister, Margaret McCann, said her brother had been moved from one cell to another after he was caught trying to make a leash.

But she said he was not checked in the second cell for 45 minutes, by which time he was found hanged. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him but their efforts were in vain.

A Home Office spokesman could not confirm whether or not Mr Rooney had been on suicide watch at the time of his death.

The Prison and Probation Ombudsman is carrying out an inquiry, as with all deaths in custody. Phil Taylor, Bullingdon Prison's governor, declined to comment.