PRISONERS are helping to make sure that Eastern European orphans are well dressed.

Women in the drug-free unit at Low Newton Jail in Durham normally make towels and sheets for the Prison Service.

But they have turned their hand to making clothes for young people up to the age of 21 in an orphanage in the Romanian town of Roadea.

The garments and other aid will be taken out later this month by the prison officers' charity Deerbolt Aid to Orphans, made up of staff at Deerbolt Young Offenders Institution at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, Low Newton and Durham prisons.

One prisoner produced the designs and a group of about eight made the garments which include fleece jackets and jumpers, nightdresses, pyjamas, trousers and hats.

A prison spokeswoman said: "All the women enjoyed it. They did a good job and the quality of the clothing is of a high standard."