A spurned lover was found hanged in his cell just an hour after begging his former fiance to take him back.

Leon David Marshall, 27, was discovered by Lewes Prison staff at 8pm on Tuesday after phoning Lisa Henley and pleading with her to marry him.

Mrs Henley narrowly escaped with her life last month after Marshall jumped behind the wheel of her Ford Escort and ploughed into their £100,000 bungalow just days before the pair were due to wed.

Mrs Henley, 37, of Kimbridge Park, East Wittering, near Chichester, spoke of her shock after hearing about his death following an evening during which he bombarded her with telephone calls.

She said: "The last time I spoke to him was at 7pm and apparently he committed suicide an hour later.

"The call was mainly to say he still loved me and wanted to marry me. I said I couldn't wait forever.

"I told him I still loved him but I had already waited for him when he was in before.

"He obviously just flipped. He said, 'There's something wrong in my head'. But I'm just wondering how it happened.

"If he flipped that night surely he should have been on suicide watch. I asked how he had done it, because you are not allowed anything to harm yourself with."

A spokesman for the Home Office said Marshall, originally from Chichester, died at 9.15pm.

He said: "Staff attempted to resuscitate him and paramedics took him to an outside hospital where unfortunately the prisoner was pronounced dead. The police, coroner and next of kin have been informed and there will be, as always, an internal prison investigation."

Marshall, who was sentenced to three years in prison last year for indecent assault, returned to custody after being accused of breaching his probation licence following the fracas at the couple's home.

Mrs Henley, a former carer, escaped with minor cuts to her left leg despite being on the phone in the living room when the car ploughed through the window.

The mother-of-two told The Argus she and Marshall had spent an enjoyable evening out before a row broke out on their return home.

She was due to marry Marshall, whom she met two years ago, at Chichester Registry Office on September 22.

She said: "He was winding me up but it was not even an argument.

"I said, 'If you are acting like this to me now, I don't want to marry you'. I tried to calm him down but he just got into the car and drove it straight through the living room. Luckily I got out the way or I wouldn't be here now."

Divorced Mrs Henley, who has two children aged 17 and 11 from a previous marriage, said Marshall then drove off in another car before being arrested.

He was returned to Lewes Prison following a spell in the jail last year for indecent assault.

Mrs Henley said: "He told me when he was inside before that there were a lot of suicides in there and he was on suicide watch last time.

"I had four letters since he went back in, pleading and begging me to let him come back. But I've got two children to consider.

"He phoned five or six times. I picked up the phone at 7pm and spoke to him. Nothing nasty was said, I just told him I couldn't be with him."

Last year Lewes Prison was ranked 132 out of 133 in the prison performance league tables and had the highest rate of suicides in the country.

The prison now has a full-time suicide prevention co-ordinator whose job is to review every prisoner.

Marshall's death follows the inquest of remand prisoner Jose Ramon EspineiraVillar, 43, last month who hanged himself after being segregated following a dispute over credit cards.

It is not known if Marshall was on suicide watch at the time of his death.