Police are continuing to hunt a prisoner who escaped from a prison ship based on the Dorset coast.

The man - the first prisoner to escape from the floating jail HMP Weare - has been named as 28-year-old David Beech from the Guildford area.

He was serving two years for threatening behaviour, but is a category C prisoner not thought to pose a danger to the public.

Beech escaped from HMP Weare, which is moored off the island of Portland, at about 1535 GMT on Sunday.

Full inquiry

No details have been released at this stage about how he managed to escape.

Dorset police are searching cars as they leave the island in a bid to find him.

A Home Office spokesman said on Sunday evening that a full inquiry had been launched into the escape.

The Home Office says Beech is not thought to be a danger to the public.

Controversial history

The prison ship, Britain's first for 200 years, holds about 400 inmates.

There was local controversy when it was established to ease the prison overcrowding crisis.

It was towed across the Atlantic from the United States in 1997 to be converted into a jail.

Many inmates at HMP Weare are nearing the end of their sentences.