Ammunition cases in Littlehey Prison clothes recycling workshop

Ammunition cases were discovered in a jacket in the prison's recycling workshop

Two ammunition cases have been found in a jacket sent to a Cambridgeshire prison for recycling.

The spent rounds, discovered by a prisoner sorting through clothing at Littlehey Prison, near Huntingdon earlier this month, were handed to a guard by the inmate.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "They were quickly removed and there was no risk to the security of the prison."

An internal investigation is taking place.

Littlehey Prison, in the village of Perry, houses up to 1,206 adult male sex offenders and is a category C jail.

'Thoroughly searched'

The ammunition cases were found in the pocket of a jacket in a supervised recycling workshop.

A Prison Service spokesman confirmed "two empty ammunition cases were discovered in a supervised sorting area at HMP Littlehey earlier this month".

He said the cases, which did not contain gunpowder or firing pins, were handed to workshop instructors.

All prisoners are "thoroughly searched" when they leave the shop, he added.

Textile recycling company LMB collects clothes from various locations, including supermarkets. Some are sent to prisons to be sorted by inmates.

Last July, an imitation hand gun was found at an LMB recycling workshop at Highpoint Prison near Haverhill, Suffolk.

A BB gun and a live bullet were found in a bed sheet at the same workshop in September.

Recycling was halted at both Highpoint and Littlehey prisons following the discoveries but is now running again, with items being checked before being handed to inmates.