SINCE it was built in the 1840s, H-wing at Durham Prison has housed some of the most dangerous men in criminal history including Ian Brady, the Krays and the Great Train Robbers.

But it is the infamous female inmates that has earned it the nickname "she-wing" - and it has had its fair share of them.

Murderesses Myra Hindley and Rose West are probably the most high profile prisoners to have stayed in the women-only centre.

Isolated from 600 incarcerated men, it sits within the walls of HMP Durham, surrounded by the 20ft razor wire-topped walls with constant camera surveillance.

It is a prison within a prison and contains about 100 women, who are locked in their cells 12 hours a day.

When they are allowed out, inmates have access to a gymnasium, kitchens, a workshops and recreation areas.

H-wing originally held men but was closed down following a riot over poor conditions between 1968 and 1971.

Security was increased and it was reopened specifically for women in 1974.

A series of damning reports from campaign groups and demonstrations against routine strip searches followed along with hunger strikes over conditions.

It was not the first time dangerous women had been held at the prison.

They have been there since Durham Prison was built in 1810, and three women have been executed by hanging.

The first was Ann Crampton, 40, a Georgian Lorena Bobbitt, hanged for removing her husband's manhood following an alleged infidelity.

She died in 1814, on the site where the University Hospital of North Durham now stands.

Mary Ann Cotton was Britain's worst female serial killer and her tally of deaths was unrivalled by either sex until the 1980s.

She was suspected of poisoning those close to her including her mother, three husbands, ten children, five stepchildren, her lover and a sister-in-law.

Motivated by financial gain she was executed in 1873.

The other woman to be hanged at Durham was 28-year-old Elizabeth Pearson, in 1875, after the wilful murder of her uncle James Watson, in Gainford, Durham.

In recent years, millions of pounds have been spend refurbishing the wing to stop it looking like a Victorian jail.

Each cell has en-suite facilities, curtains adorn the bars on the windows and TV is allowed.

Women can dry their washing on the wire-catch fencing strung between the cells. It also acts as a safety net for anyone tempted to commit suicide by jumping from one of the four floors.

But now following 30 years of female notoriety the bad girls are being moved out and the barriers are to be brought down so new inmates can mix with other prisoners.

She-wing will once again be he-wing.