A CONVICTED murderer from the North-East was taken to hospital from his prison cell.

Kevin Littlewood, from Hartlepool, is serving a life sentence after killing John Paul Robert Jeffries, 18, of the town's Lowthian Road, in January 2001.

On Sunday, the 21-year-old was taken from Horfield Prison, in Bristol, to the city's Royal Infirmary in a serious condition but details of the problem have not been revealed by prison officials.

Prison staff contacted Hartlepool police in a bid to find Littlewood's mother, Deborah Evans, and tell her of his condition.

Officers attended her home, on Sunday, and informed her that her son was seriously ill.

A spokesman for Hartlepool Police said: "We were asked on Sunday to contact Kevin Littlewood's mother because he was seriously ill in hospital."

HM Prisons Service refused to comment on the inmate's health, saying the rights of prisoners had to be protected, and would not give any details about the incident.

Littlewood spent four days in hospital, but a spokeswoman for Bristol Royal Infirmary confirmed the killer has since been discharged.

She said: "I cannot comment on his condition or any details of his arrival or departure as the rules for divulging information about prisoners is more strict."

Littlewood murdered Mr Jeffries by delivering repeated blows to his body with a piece of rock from the sea defence boulders on Hartlepool Marina.

The body was found by a fisherman six days later, wedged among the boulders.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Teesside Crown Court, in December 2001, with a tariff to serve at least nine years.