Convicted paedophile John Malcolm White was rushed to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital yesterday afternoon for treatment after being assaulted by another prisoner.

White - a former Policeman - was assaulted within 24 hours or being sentenced to spend the next 25 years in Westgate prison.

Acting Prison Commissioner Hubert Dean said he is launching an investigation into the assault.

He said White is also being treated as a suicide risk and that he has ordered that he be kept under strict supervision.

Despite the extra attention White is receiving, another inmate at the Prison was able get close enough to him yesterday to punch him in the head - sending him to hospital, The Royal Gazette was told.

On Tuesday in the Supreme Court, White was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for ten sexual offences against young boys.

White was convicted on October 4 of abusing three young victims between 1996 and 2001.

Mr. Dean would not confirm the details of the assault yesterday, but he said White was “punched in the head” by another prisoner shortly before noon.

White was then transported to the hospital for an X-Ray as a precautionary measure.

White is currently being kept in Isolation in Maximum Security at the prison, Mr. Dean said, and is on a suicide watch.

“There is a chance disciplinary action will be taken,” as a result of the assault, he added.

“He's being treated as a suicide risk. He insists that he's not suicidal but it's a precaution we have to take.”

Mr. Dean said Prison staff have noticed that White appears to be depressed.

White was employed with the Bermuda Police Service when he committed the sexual offences.

Before sentencing on Tuesday, his lawyer Queen's Counsel John Perry told the court the ex-cop had already received threats while in Westgate.

Prison Officers escorted White into the Emergency Room yesterday, parking two prison vans, one at the front of the hospital and one at the ER entrance.

Members of the media were unable to get a glimpse of White as he was taken out of the hospital through the morgue - a back entrance - by Prison Officers and immediately put into a waiting van. Another Prison Officer then got in the empty van parked in front of the ER and drove away. One ER worker told The Royal Gazette he was “being treated as a high security risk”.

See related story on Page 6