PILOT David Simpson has told of his terrifying escape from an African jail during a riot – as he prepared to speak to a judge today.

Mr Simpson, 24, of Gillamoor, near Kirkbymoorside, had been languishing in prison in the Central African Republic for four months after stumbling across the scene of a massacre and being accused of the killings.

His brother Paul said yesterday that a judge was due to speak to him today in a meeting which could determine his fate.

Mr Simpson, writing on facebook, recounted how he had been sitting in his cell when he heard noises from outside the prison, and discovered it was a riot moving up the road towards the jail.

“This then starts a riot in the prison,” he said. “The rioters outside the prison then break down the doors of the prison. The prisoners grab what they can and run for it. The rioters armed with machetes, knives and sticks then come into the prison and start to loot everything they can.

“They break down the door of my cell and steal everything of mine. I decide its best to get out of there as they see the white guy and think I have something worth stealing in my pockets.

“So I run for it, but am repeatedly attacked by looters who steal the shoes from my feet and attempt to take the clothes off my back.”

He said that after a ten minute struggle, he made it out of the prison doors after pushing through a crowd of about 200 people and “taking a few whacks”.

He said he was grabbed by two soldiers who locked him back in a cell, and was then guarded by 12 soldiers all armed with AK47s who did nothing to stop the riot.

Eventually, the rioters dispersed and he was released, as the soldiers wanted to go home.

“So now I am still officially a prisoner but there is no prison to be locked up in. So for now I AM A FREE MAN! I am still officially a prisoner, but there is no prison left to lock me up in after yesterday’s riot. So I am a prisoner without a prison and have no idea what will happen next, so for now I am just enjoying freedom. However there is a good indication that the charges against me and CAWA will be dropped within one or two weeks. Fingers crossed.”

Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army are widely believed to be behind the deaths of the people discovered by Mr Simpson.