“CROSSBOW Cannibal” Stephen Griffiths was left bruised and battered after a prison attack, it has been claimed.

The serial killer, 54, was beaten up by another lag on Valentine’s Day and is now said to be “too scared to leave his cell”.

The triple killer, who dismembered and ate his victims, was attacked after allegedly lashing out at a rival inmate in high security HMP Full Sutton, The Sun can reveal.

A source said: “He was going round saying he wanted to kill someone.

“He started talking to another lag in his cell and all of a sudden tried to attack him.

“It turned into a fist fight. There were no weapons – the other inmate got the better of him and he was screaming ‘get off’.”

The fiend, who murdered three prostitutes before eating their body parts, suffered bruises to his face and head but did not require medical treatment.

The police are not investigating.

A Prison Service spokesperson declined to comment on individual prisoners.

Griffiths got a whole life term in 2010 for the Bradford murders of Susan Rushworth, 43, Shelley Armitage, 31, and Suzanne Blamires, 36.

Since then he has been repeatedly attacked by other prisoners.

In November last year he was knocked out with a single punch thrown by a jailed pal of Ms Blamires.

The monster suffered injuries to the face and was “knocked unconscious” when he fell back from the force of the blow.

Griffiths was arrested in May 2010 after CCTV footage of him attacking Ms Blamires at his block of flats was discovered by a caretaker at the complex.

The court heard Ms Blamires was later seen being dragged on the floor by her leg by Griffiths, who was seen to have something in his hand.

The woman was shot with a crossbow, the court heard, before Griffiths “gestured” by holding a finger up to the CCTV camera.

Suzanne died from severe head injuries caused by a crossbow bolt, and was also found with knife wounds.

Her remains were recovered from the River Aire, Yorkshire, in May 2010.

Griffiths, a student researching murders in Bradford in the 19th Century as part of his thesis, told the officers arresting him: “I’m Osama bin Laden.”

The brute – who introduced himself in court as “the crossbow cannibal” in court – told police after his arrest: “I’ve killed loads.”

Describing the previous prison attack – launched by a pal of Ms Blamires – an insider said the inmate was “unhappy being on a wing with his friend’s killer”.

The killer also dodged death in 2019 when another inmate tried to plunge a wooden spear into his heart.

Horrified prison officers rushed to save the monster, 49, as he lay screaming in pain.

He suffered a “large puncture wound” to his chest but recovered before being transferred to another nick.