Child killer Roy Whiting was “covered in blood” after a stabbing at the maximum security prison where he is being kept.

The paedophile, who was jailed for life in 2002 for murdering eight-year-old Sarah Payne, was reportedly knifed several times at HMP Wakefield.

Sarah went missing from Kingston Gorse, near Ferring,  on July 1, 2000, near her grandfather’s house and her body was found in a field near Pulborough on July 17. Whiting was found guilty of her murder the following year.

Whiting was stabbed repeatedly at the weekend, according to The Mirror. The 65-year-old’s injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

The Argus: Sarah Payne was snatched and killed by Whiting in July 2000Sarah Payne was snatched and killed by Whiting in July 2000

A source told the paper that Whiting is “hated in prison” and his attackers were “trying to kill him”.

Whiting has been subject to several attacks in prison since starting his life sentence in 2002.

He was told he had to serve a minimum of 50 years in prison by then Home Secretary David Blunkett in a landmark ruling, but a High Court judge changed this to a minimum of 40 years in June 2010.

He has been attacked with a razor blade which left a six inch scar on his cheek, a sharpened plastic toilet brush handle and pieces of wood with screws sticking out.