Dover town centre's policeman Ashley Price walked out of prison after being locked up on Halloween night and declared: "I've laid my ghosts to rest."

He had done his 'time' in the Victorian prison wing at the town hall, said to be frequented by ghosts and the sound of clanking metal doors.

"It is widely thought Halloween originated as a pagan Celtic festival of the dead. They believed evil spirits visited with the long hours of darkness on that Sunday night."

Glad to see daylight again after 13 hours in the cell, spanning Sunday night to Monday morning, he told the Dover Mercury: "It was very creepy down there. All I had with me was my sleeping bag, a cam recorder, a torch and a dead monk for company in a nearby tomb."

But his incarceration was all in a good cause, to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity supporting wounded servicemen and women.

"I always keep an open mind about these things, but I did hear strange sounds while I was trying to sleep - they were of doors slamming. The first was at 10.30pm and the second at 5.30am followed by the sound a of whistling down the other end of the corridor."

* For full story buy the Dover Mercury on Thursday.