Prisoner flees in chef hat lorry

Lowdham Grange is a Category B training prison

Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped from a Nottinghamshire prison in a shipment of chef hats.

James Cummings, 39, from London, escaped from Lowdham Grange Prison near Nottingham on 5 June, a spokesman for prison security firm Serco said.

He apparently hid in a cardboard box full of hats on a lorry as it left the medium-security prison.

Cummings, who was serving a 10-year term for burglary and robbery, was due for release in 2009.

The white chef hats are made in a workshop at the prison by inmates.

"We are working with Nottinghamshire police to help recapture him and have launched an internal inquiry into the escape," a Serco spokesman said.

He said the firm has a set procedure to prevent break-outs from prison but said "on this occasion it didn't work".