Prisoners at a tough jail have been secretly visited by TV's hardest businessman Duncan Bannatyne. The no-nonsense tycoon - star of BBC2's Dragons' Den - spent a day handing out advice to inmates at HMP Durham.

Scots-born Duncan, 60, whose health club and property empire is worth over £300 million, agreed to go to the jail after hearing that some prisoners are studying his life as part of a business course.

The tycoon - who did time himself in a military jail for threatening an officer when he was a 19-year-old Royal Navy seaman, gave advice on how to steer clear of crime and set themselves up in work.

A source said: "The prisoners all watch the show so they knew him and respected him. It was a real treat for them to meet the man himself."