A RAPIST serving a life sentence yesterday launched a High Court action for up to £50,000 damages over a complaint that he was not given enough exercise outside each day.

Leslie Malcolm, 45, said he was only given about 30 minutes exercise on the 158 days he was detained at Frankland Prison, in Durham City, in 2007. He is asking a judge in London to award him compensation against the Ministry of Justice.

His barrister, Phillippa Kaufmann, told Mr Justice Sweeney that the action by Malcolm, who alleges misfeasance in public office and a breach of his human rights, was not “trivial”.

She said it was a situation which persisted over a sixmonth period in the context of a segregation unit “with all the impoverishment of his surrounding conditions that goes with that”.

Malcolm, who was jailed for life for rape in 1996, watched proceedings via video link from Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire, where he is currently serving his sentence.

Ms Kaufmann said it was difficult to identify exactly what time Malcolm had spent outside each day, but “averaging everything out”, the best estimate was a “period of about 30 minutes or so”.

Malcolm’s case is that he received less than an hour outside, in breach of the terms of mandatory guidance which provides that prison governors must ensure that inmates held in a segregation unit are “provided with the opportunity to spend a minimum of one hour in the open air each day”.

He claims there was a failure to provide him with the full hour for outdoor exercise, which amounts to misfeasance in public office, and constituting an unlawful interference with his right to respect for his private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Part of Malcolm’s case is that there was a “loss of residual liberty” for at least 30 minutes per day for 158 days, “amounting to a total of at least 79 hours”.

He also says he suffered physical discomfort from joint pain and a general feeling of unfitness.

His allegations are being contested by the Ministry of Justice, which denies liability.

The case is expected to last for two days, and will continue today.