A prisoner was rescued by prison staff after a fire started in his cell last week.

Four fire engines and three ambulances attended a cell fire after prison staff rescued a prisoner from his cell on Thursday, August 20.

A source at the prison said the inmate at HMP High Down in Sutton barricaded himself in his cell and started a fire.

It apparently took officers a ‘considerable time’ to get in.

This is disputed by prison staff.

There are conflicting reports about who extinguished the fire, whether it was prison staff or firefighters, but the fire services were called at 11.27am on the day and four engines from Epsom, Sutton, Chertsey and Banstead went to the prison.

The blaze was described as being small by a prison service spokesman.

He said: "One prisoner was taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation and returned to the prison the same day."

They declined to offer more details as to the identity of the inmate or the cause of the fire.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service were also called just before 11.45am and sent two ambulance cars and one paramedic car to the prison.

The ambulance team took the prisoner to hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation.

There were no reported injuries to staff.