Convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber has been stabbed in the neck in prison by a fellow inmate.

Bamber was taken to hospital after the attack, at HM Prison Full Sutton near York.

He had been on the telephone at the time of the assault. He needed stitches to the back of his neck, but has now returned to the jail and is recovering in the hospital wing.

Bamber yesterday said that he did not know the prisoner who attacked him, and he had no idea what the reason was. He was convicted in 1986 of killing his adoptive parents June and Nevill Bamber, sister Sheila and her twin six-year-old sons Daniel and Nicholas.

They were all shot dead at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D'Arcy. Bamber has continued to protest his innocence and is currently seeking a fresh appeal against his conviction.

His lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano has called for an inquiry into the prison attack, stating that Bamber has never been attacked during his 18 years in prison, and that the assault happened shortly before a decision is due on the application for an appeal.

Mr Di Stefano, who was yesterday returning from Monte Carlo to investigate the assault, claims to have uncovered evidence from the original investigation which casts doubt on Bamber's conviction.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is currently looking into submissions made by Bamber's legal team, and will be making a decision in due course on whether to send the case back to the Court of Appeal.

The attack happened at 3.20pm on Saturday. A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'I can confirm a prisoner was taken for treatment to an outside hospital and police have been informed. It did follow an assault.'

Published Monday May 31, 2004

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