A robber who killed a prostitute at the centre of a political sex scandal staged a nine hour siege at Whitemoor prison to get medical help for suspected bowel cancer.

Gary Day, who was jailed for 15 years in 2001, says he is becoming increasingly worried that severe cramping pains and bleeding means he needs urgent medical treatment.

His girlfriend, however, said prison medical officers have told him there is nothing wrong and he just needs to take a couple of paracetamol.

Jackie Davies said: “He knows he shouldn’t have done it (the siege) but he was in a desperate situation. He has been left in agony and he thought the only thing he could possibly do was to take another inmate prisoner to make them listen and get the medical help he needs.

“He thinks his body is closing down.

“Nine months ago he started to feel poorly and he kept asking to see the doctor but they keep ignoring him.”

Riot police were called to the siege at Whitemoor in September after Day took a fellow inmate hostage, flooded a cell and started fires.

At the time the Prison Officers Association blamed the incident on staff cuts. Ms Davies said that after serving nine years for manslaughter, robbery and possessing an imitation firearm, he was up for parole.

“As parole approached a paedophile was put in the same cell as him, I don’t understand why but you can imagine how that ended.” She believes the stress is making him ill.

His case has been taken up by his MP Jason McCartney of Colne Valley, who has written to Whitemoor’s governor to ask that Day’s health concerns are taken seriously.

In 2001 Day held up a chemist store with a toy pistol and demanded diazepam and temazepam and then hijacked a £30,000 Jaguar before crashing into Monica Coghlan’s car.

Miss Coghlan was a sex worker and a witness in a libel case involving former Tory party chairman Lord Archer.

The Ministry of Justice is yet to respond to our request for a comment.