A PRISONER who made a death defying escape from Lancaster Castle Prison claims he did it becasue he was desperate to see a relative.

Paul Ellwood Bell gave himself up just four days after making his dramatic bid for freedom and is now back in custody.

Bell used a workman's ladder as a makeshift bridge from the prison's castle ramparts to a nearby tree - risking falling 50ft to the ground.

The convicted drug dealer was rearrested at his mother's house in Penrith, Cumbria, after negotiations with his family.

A police spokesman said that Bell had realised there was no point in going on the run and that he had escaped because he was desperate to see a relative. He has been taken to Preston Prison and appeared before Lancaster Magistrates on Wednesday charged with escaping from lawful custody.