AN inmate found hanged in his cell was met with verbal abuse from a prison officer when he asked to see a priest, an inquest was told yesterday.

When Paul Day, 31, said he was going to hang himself, an officer told him to "do it properly", according to an inmate.

Handcuffed between Group 4 officers and appearing in a glass cubicle, prisoner Gordon Foley was describing the last hours of Mr Day's life, before he was found dead in a cell at a segregated unit in Durham's Frankland Prison in October 2002.

The hearing has been told that Mr Day, 31, of Essex, who was serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for robbery, had previously been involved in suicide attempts.

Foley said Mr Day had been protesting against his treatment, but had been desperate to stop.

He said: "Day was shouting he would hang himself as he could not handle it. The officer told him to do it properly.

"When he asked to see a priest or a minister he was told to **** off."

Anthony Wood, another protestor at the time, told the hearing how officers would "wind up" Mr Day through his door.

Andrew O'Connor, for the prison service, put it to both witnesses that they had made false accusations to cover up for their roles in Mr Day's death.

The hearing continues.