A JURY has convicted two prisoners of trying to escape from a North-East jail.

William Downes, from Stockton, and Ifzal Zafar, from Bradford, were found guilty yesterday after a five-day trial at Teesside Crown Court.

The pair will be sentenced next month along with Kenneth Bennett, 25, who had earlier admitted trying to break out.

Dylan Conroy, 31, from Pennywell, Sunderland, had also pleaded guilty to the charge, and was given seven days imprisonment.

The court heard that four inmates at HMP Kirklevington Grange, in Yarm, near Stockton, tried to flee in May last year.

Zafar, 27, and Downes, 31, claimed they had been let out to retrieve some belongings that had been thrown out of a cell block window, but “no one was available to let them back in”.

The court heard that Zafar was later found hiding under a Portakabin, while Downes was detained after a struggle as he ran towards a perimeter fence.

A roll-call showed Conroy and Bennett were also missing, and they were found in bushes in a garden area, said prosecutor Michael Bosomworth.

Zafar said while he was in an area he should not have been, he had no intention of escaping. He gave ‘no comment’ answers to police.

Downes, previously of Yarm Road, Stockton, was said by the prosecution to have climbed out of a high cell window and onto a roof to try to flee.

He was asked if he knew or associated with Zafar and told officers: “There is nothing to answer mate. I have not done anything wrong so it is no comment.”