The serial killer Levi Bellfield was found injured in his cell by prison staff after an apparent attempt to take his own life.
The convicted triple-murderer is one of only about 50 people serving whole-life sentences after being found guilty in 2008 of killing Amelie Delegrange, Marsha McDonnell and, in a 2011 trial, Milly Dowler.
He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy when he repeatedly drove his vehicle over the then 18-year-old.
Bellfield, formerly of Little Benty, West Drayton, was also tried for the abduction and false imprisonment of Anna-Maria Rennie and the attempted murder of Irma Dragoshi but juries at the 2008 trial failed to reach a verdict.
A source said Bellfield was ‘minutes from death’ when he was found in his cell on Friday evening before medics were called.
The source told the Sun on Sunday: ‘If the prison officers hadn’t been on hand so swiftly, he would have died.’
The former night-club bouncer and wheel clamper has now been put on 24-hour watch at maximum security Frankland Prison in County Durham.
Prisoner safety is under the spotlight at the moment after the murder of committed paedophile Richard Huckle at Full Sutton, East Yorkshire.
Huckle was given 22 life sentences after admitting 71 charges of sex abuse of children aged between six months and 12 years, between 2006 and 2014
He was found dead in his cell last week and had been stabbed with a make-shift blade.
Bellfield became known as the ‘bus-stop stalker’ for the way he would prey on his victims.
He murdered 13-year-old Milly in 2002 after abducting her in Walton-on-Thames before going on to kill Marsha and Amelie in 2003 and 2004.
The Ministry of Justice have not commented on the alleged prison incident.
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