A DOUBLE murderer from the North-East is alleged to have stabbed a child killer in the eye in a violent prison attack.

Gary Vinter, of Middlesbrough, is believed to have launched an assault on Roy Whiting, who was convicted of murdering schoolgirl Sarah Payne, at Wakefield Prison, on Friday.

Prison officers are said to have saved Whiting from further injuries after he was targeted by 6ft 7in Vinter.

The 41-year-old, who is serving a life sentence, is alleged to have used a sharpened toilet brush in the attack.

The body-building fanatic stabbed his wife to death after kidnapping her and holding her hostage.

He was out on licence for the 1995 murder of work colleague Carl Edon when he strangled and stabbed his wife to death.

Vinter had moved in with mother-of-four Anne White shortly after leaving prison in August 2005.

He married her in July 2006, but they separated after he attacked her twice at their home in Eston, near Middlesbrough.

Fifty-one-year-old paedophile Whiting is believed to have been treated in the prison’s hospital wing before being taken under guard to Pinderfields General Hospital, in Wakefield.

Whiting was jailed for life and must serve 50 years for the murder of eight-year-old Sarah near Littlehampton, West Sussex, in 2000. He abducted her as she was playing in a field near her grandparents’ home.

Her body was found 16 days later in a shallow grave.

Whiting had a previous conviction for a sex attack on a young girl, for which he had been sentenced to only four years. It is not the first time Whiting has been attacked in jail. In 2002, he was slashed across the face.

A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said: “A prisoner at HMP Wakefield was assaulted on the morning of July 1 and received an eye injury. He was treated in the prison’s healthcare wing.

“HMP Wakefield manages violent and dangerous prisoners every day and events such as this are rare. The bravery and speedy response of staff ensured that this incident was dealt with swiftly and effectively.”