A court hearing is to take place inside a maximum-security prison so that Keighley-born killer and kidnapper Michael Sams can sue the Prison Service over lost paintings.

Sams, pictured, jailed in 1993 for the murder of Julie Dart and the abduction of estate agent Stephanie Slater, claims his pictures are worth £4,000.

He is arguing that they were lost by Whitemoor Prison where he was being held before he was transferred to Durham Close Supervision Unit.

The arbitration hearing is scheduled to take place on February 18 at Whitemoor.

It will also seek to resolve a dispute over wages Sams claims he lost when he was held, unfairly he claims, in solitary confinement.

Sams will represent himself at the hearing and has not been awarded legal aid.

A spokesman for the Prison Service, which is contesting the claim, said it was cheaper to hold the hearing inside a prison than foot the bill for elaborate security arrangements which would be needed to transfer Sams, one of the country's most dangerous criminals, to an outside court.

One-legged Sams recently had eight years added to his four life sentences after taking a probation officer hostage.

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