A young offender staged a one-man protest on the roof of Cookham Wood Prison.

The boy, who has not been identified, somehow climbed up on the roof of one of the buildings in the prison complex at about 8.30am on Tuesday.

The stand-off lasted more than four hours, ending shortly after 1pm.

The prison in Sir Evelyn Road, Rochester, has space for 160 inmates under the age of 18.

Cookham Wood, whose most notorious inmate was child killer Myra Hindley, was built in 1978 for young men but its use was changed to meet the growing need for secure female accommodation at the time.

But last year the government said the prison needed to change again to manage the changing nature of the prison population.

The boy who was wearing prison issue clothes could clearly be seen from the road outside the perimeter fence and was shouting and gesturing obscenities at prison officers attempted to talk him down.