Waite's night in the cells

Terry Waite spent more than four years in a Beirut cell

Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite has been back behind bars alongside someone familiar with a more comfortable kind of confinement, the Big Brother star Steph Smith.

The pair were among 77 people who spent 21 hours in a cell at HMP Birmingham to help raise funds for sick children.

Television presenters, government ministers, local business leaders and members of the prison service also took part in the challenge, in the hope of raising more than £25,000 for charity.

The lock-up, which began on Saturday afternoon and ended at 1100 BST on Sunday, was held in a new £58m building at Winson Green prison in Birmingham.

Role reversal

Mr Waite is used to confinement, having spent 1,760 days in a Beirut cell between 1987 and 1991.

He was trying to negotiate the release of Western prisoners while special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury when he was taken hostage himself.

For Big Brother contestant Steph Smith, who is from Redditch in Worcestershire, the experience was something of a role reversal - she used to work as a prison warder.

Each person taking part in the challenge has had to raise a minimum of £350 in sponsorship, a prison service spokeswoman said.

The "inmates" also got a tour of the new facilities at Winson Green prison, which include a library, education centre and gymnasium, before they were locked in individual cells for the night.

Money raised from the event will be donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital, Acorns Children's Hospice and Kids West Midlands, which helps youngsters with special needs.