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A prisoner was so desperate to get out of jail that he spent two days covering his body in yellow highlighter pen in an attempt to convince warders he had jaundice.

The prisoner, who was serving six years at Parkhurst for attempted robbery, hoped warders would arrange for him to be transferred to an outside hospital, from where he could escape. But his plan was thwarted when a guard looked through an inspection hatch and spotted him using the pen. A prison spokesman said: "He had carefully painted all his body - even his private bits - with the yellow highlighter pen ... The problem was he had made such a good job of it that he would probably have died if he had been suffering an attack so severe that it turned his skin that colour."

Prison staff across the UK have been circulated with details in case any other inmates try something similar.