An escaped prisoner shot by police marksmen in central Brighton was said today to be making "satisfactory" progress in hospital.

The man fired three times at police with an air pistol from scaffolding outside St Peter's Church in Richmond Place before being shot through the ankle.

He was able to hobble down and gave himself up to police.

He was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital and has since been transferred to the hospital wing of a young offenders' institute near London.

He has not yet been interviewed by police or charged.

The incident is the subject of an inquiry being supervised by the Police Complaints Authority.

Kent Police, the force which investigated the fatal shooting by Sussex Police of James Ashley in Hastings in 1991, will conduct the inquiry.

Police, including members of the armed Special Operations Unit, were called to the church at 1am on Good Friday.

The man had called police on his mobile phone saying he was wanted by them and was at the church with a gun.

Police later discovered he had absconded from prison where he was serving a sentence for violence and robbery after being given permission to attend a family funeral.

They have asked witnesses to the shooting incident to contact Operation Pillar at Sussex Police on 0845 6070999.