McDonalds customers are being served burgers and fries by inmates of a jail which has housed some of Britain’s most notorious female criminals, MailOnline can reveal.

This prisoner was spotted preparing meals customers while on day release from Askham Grange – set in the Yorkshire countryside and dubbed the UK’s cushiest jail.

After working her shift, was seen to walk unescorted for 40 minutes back to the former stately home in the picturesque country village of Askham Richard. Near York.

She bought an ice cream before the two mile walk during which she donned an orange high visibility jacket over her McDonald’s uniform.

She spoke to guards on the prison intercom and the gate was opened to admit her at the end of her day of freedom.

This prisoner was spotted preparing meals customers while on day release from Askham Grange – set in the Yorkshire countryside and dubbed the UK’s cushiest jail

After working her shift, was seen to walk unescorted for 40 minutes back to the former stately home in the picturesque country village of Askham Richard, near York.  She spoke to guards on the prison intercom and the gate was opened to admit her at the end of her day of freedom

During her shift at the busy McDonald’s restaurant at the Bilbrough Top Service area beside the A64 York Leeds Road he prepared meals for scores of customers

During her shift at the busy McDonald’s restaurant at the Bilbrough Top Service area beside the A64 York Leeds Road he prepared meals for scores of customers.

The identity of the female inmate, who appeared to be aged in her early 40s is unknown, as are the nature of her offences.

Last month it was announced prison a reform boss jailed for a 20-year campaign of violence against her husband has been moved to Askham Grange just five months into her sentence.

Sheree Spencer, 45, was locked up for four years by a judge who described her torture of husband Richard as ‘the worst case of coercive control’ she had ever seen.

She made 46-year-old Richard’s life a living hell throughout their relationship with verbal attacks and beatings that sometimes left him curled on the floor in the foetal position to protect himself.

On one occasion she defecated on the floor and forced him to clean it up and on another she beat him with a wine bottle so badly it permanently disfigured his ear.

Other ex inmates include Anne Darwin, who was jailed along with her ex-husband John, after she helped him fake his own death in a kayaking accident in 2002.

Ms Darwin was also locked up in Askham Grange with road rage killer Tracie Andrews, who murdered her fiancé Lee Harvey, 25, and served 14 years.

After working her shift, was seen to walk unescorted for 40 minutes back to the former stately home in the picturesque country village of Askham Richard. Near York

The identity of the female inmate, who appeared to be aged in her early 40s is unknown, as are the nature of her offences. She was seen preparing orders for customers 

Notorious killer Mary Bell, who strangled two tots when she was just 11, served out the last of her sentence at Askham Grange before being released in 1980.

The former Royal Aide Jane Andrews, the Duchess of York’s former hairdresser, also did time there after being convicted of cubbing and stabbing to death her businessman boyfriend.

Others high profile killers included former Army sharpshooter Rena Salmon, who shot dead her wealthy husband’s pregnant mistress – and twisted teen Sarah Davey.

Davey was 14 when she and 15-year-old Lisa Healey tortured and murdered 71-year-old Lily Lilley then dumped her body in a wheelie bin and pushed it through the streets before overturning it into a canal.

Shannon Matthew’s mother Karen Matthews had hoped to finish her sentence there too.

But her hopes of an easy life were dashed because the prison now runs its own nursery and inmates guilty of crimes against kids are banned.

The female inmate was seen walking to her job while on day release from Askham Grange jail

Askham Grange was the first women’s open prison in the UK when it opened in 1947 and also pioneered programmes for the rehabilitation of its female prisoners from 1973.

Inmates tend to have already served three years or more in other prisons and are transferred to Askham to complete the last part of their sentence.

With no more three years left on their sentences, many prisoners are given work placements outside the jail to teach them new skills.

The prison also boats it own Garden Centre and Coffee Shop – The Grange Coffee Shop – just a stones throw from the entrance.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: ‘Prisoners are subject to tough risk assessments before they are allowed out on temporary release. 

‘They must also abide by strict rules and face extra time behind bars if they don’t comply.’

MailOnline has approached McDonalds for comment.