Serial killer Peter Tobin has been taken to hospital after suffering a stroke at the prison where he is serving three life sentences.

Tobin, 69, reportedly collapsed in his cell at Edinburgh's Saughton Prison on Sunday afternoon.

The killer, who has a history of missing court appearances through illness, was taken to the city's Royal Infirmary by ambulance.

He was spotted being wheeled into the hospital by a medic and still handcuffed to a prison officer, according to the Scottish Sun.

Tobin was reported to have been found slumped in his cell by prison staff at about midday.

The serial killer is serving a life sentence for raping and murdering Polish student Angelika Kluk, 23, and hiding her body under the floor of a Glasgow church in 2006.

He has also been convicted of murdering 15-year-old schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, of Redding, near Falkirk, in 1991, and 18-year-old Dinah McNicol in the same year.

Their bodies were found 17 years later, buried in the garden of his former home in Margate, Kent.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "We can confirm that a 69-year-old prisoner from HMP Edinburgh was taken to hospital."