An inmate at Prison holding up to 792 has set fire to his cell within the punishment block at His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh in south-east London.

Firefighters  from the  London Fire Brigade  were called by staff at the  Category-A men’s prison in Thamesmead after a fire broke out within a cell in “The segregation unit” on Friday evening just before 10pm

Prison Staff within the jail have helped to tackle the blaze extinguishing the flames before the arrival of the fire service.

The Prison Service confirmed that no one was injured and that protocol required the fire service to be called automatically if there is any type of fire.

A spokesperson said: “Staff quickly extinguished cell fire One was injured and the fire brigade was called.”

The spokesperson also confirmed that the prisoner would be placed on report and punished for his actions.

Firefighters checked for hotspots with a thermal imaging camera.