Police in Islington were called to HMP Pentonville at 11:44hrs on Monday, 7 November following reports of two escaped prisoners.

Officers attended and established with prison staff that two male prisoners, aged 28 and 31, escaped from the prison. Enquiries are ongoing to locate them. Police in Islington investigate.

The escape was discovered when prison officers found two mannequins in the prisoners’ beds on Monday.

One of those who escaped is serving a “very long sentence”, the BBC’s home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.

It is understood the inmates, aged 28 and 31, used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to break through cell bars before they scaled the perimeter wall.

The escaped prisoners were on G wing, the same wing where 21-year-old prisoner Jamal Mahmoud was fatally stabbed last month.

Basana Kimbembi, 34, has been charged with his murder