Shrewsbury Dana Prison chiefs will remove remains of executed inmates before revamp

Councillor Mike Owen, Shropshire Council cabinet member for business growth and prosperity, told a meeting at Shirehall that there may be 17 bodies still buried at the jail, which is to officially close by the start of April.

Talks have opened between Shropshire Council and the Ministry of Justice about the possibility of turning the prison into a hotel but Councillor Owen said it was 'too early' to say what its future use will be.

He said a meeting was planned between officials from the two organisations in early April to discuss the potential options for the future of prison.

"There are 17 burials that may delay the process as to the final outcome," he said.

His comments come as English Heritage said today they would be willing to help prospective developers and the council with preparing for any change in use for the prison.

A spokesman said: "English Heritage will gladly work with both the council and any developer to establish good adaptive reuse."

He added: "We have worked with developers in other areas of the country to achieve this successfully, namely Oxford Prison." More than £500,000 was spent on exhuming bodies from Oxford Prison when that site was turned into a luxury hotel in 2005.

The project had initially been earmarked to cost about £250,000, but ending up doubling after more remains than expected were found.

A total of 76 bodies were eventually found at the Oxford site.

The final five inmates left Shrewsbury Prison on Wednesday, marking the end of operations at the town site which has been open for more than 200 years.