Jail placed in lockdown after a ‘four inch knife went missing’ from the kitchen – but it was found behind a cabinet
Fears the weapon could have been used to attack officers or other prisoners at HMP Birmingham
A PRISON was put in lockdown last night after a knife 'with a four inch blade' was found missing from the jail kitchens.
Inmates were told they were not allowed to leave their cells or receive visitors until the weapon was found.
It had been feared the knife could have been used to attack officers or other prisoners at HMP Birmingham.
Jail bosses are believed to have shut down the prison - managed by security contractors G4S - as soon as the blade was reported missing at about 4pm yesterday.
But it was reopened again this morning after the knife was found behind a kitchen cabinet.
A G4S spokesperson confirmed: "A knife was found to be missing from the prison kitchen yesterday and it was later discovered behind a kitchen cabinet."
A friend of one lag told Sun Online the knife "was approximately four-inches long with a black handle".
He added: “Until it was found, all entry in and out of the jail was stopped and the whole prison was on lockdown.
"It was a knife used to prepare food - if it had got into the wrong hands it could have been very dangerous."
The category B prison in Winson Green Road once held evil serial killer Fred West and a G4S spokesman added: “There has been a lockdown.”
On Thursday night an inmate is said to have set fire to himself and his cell.
Author and former prisoner Alex Cavendish, who tweets from @PrisonUK, said the inmate survived but was rushed to hospital by ambulance.
It is not the first time the prison has experienced a problem with inmates and knifes.
In May this year a detainee was jailed for eight years after attacking another prisoner with a razorblade.
Shallan Mohammed made the weapon from a toothbrush before slashing his victim on the cheek, leaving him needing 24 stitches in November 2014.
Mohammed was being held for immigration matters at the time and was later freed but was arrested earlier when staff found the blade stashed behind a plug socket in his old cell.
The government was also forced to apologise after relatives of an HMP Birmingham inmate were wrongly told their son had killed himself in prison.
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