A HAMPSHIRE man who murdered his four-year-old son has been found hanging in a cell at Winchester Prison, it emerged today.

Leslie Pepall, 29, who was found dead in his cell yesterday morning, had undergone a standard period of observation when he was jailed in March.

But staff had felt there were no worries of self-harm and that he did not require special care.

Pepall was jailed for life after he killed son Ben and stabbed baby daughter Chloe after his wife revealed her affair with his best friend.

He was found hanging from the bars of his cell in A-wing by a ligature made of bed sheets at 6.30am. Officers did not try to resuscitate him as he was clearly dead, said a spokesman, and the prison doctor pronounced death at 7.36am.

It was a double tragedy for the prison, as inmate John Rixon was found dead at the same time.

Rixon, 58, from Waterlooville, who had been remanded on charges of attempted murder, rape and false imprisonment, was discovered hanging in his cell in C-wing.

Again, he was clearly already dead and no resuscitation attempts were made. Death was pronounced at 7.40am.

He too had successfully undergone supervision for self-harm and not been considered at risk.

Ironically, the deaths came on the day the Daily Echo carried the annual report from the jail watchdog, the Board of Visitors which praised its suicide awareness.

The report, which criticised several aspects of the jail, said: "The year has seen an improvement in the overall supervision and care of at-risk prisoners."

Last year, there were four suicides at the prison, but the coroner found "no significant fault by staff or existing procedures", said the report.

The board said the jail was training new "listeners", the inmates trained as counsellors "who support staff at a time when staff numbers are being reduced and hence the time available for them to spend with inmates is reduced".

The Prison Officers' Association has warned that the reduction in staff numbers will lead to more suicide attempts.

Winchester Prison spokesman Ivan Augustus said the two deaths were unconnected but had shocked the prison. "I think that every time something like this happens it is a real tragedy. There is the obvious impact of a prisoner dying and it is felt dearly by everyone. There is a deep sense of caring and wanting to help people, and this will have a profound impact on the staff and prisoners as well as being a tragedy for the family."

A coroner's investigation will be carried out.

An independent Prison Service probe has already been launched.

Pepall had been released from a mental hospital just hours before he stabbed Ben to death and tried to kill Chloe with a six-inch kitchen knife at their home in The Shrubbery, Gosport, last August.

He stabbed Ben four times - twice through the heart - and hit him across the face with a metal lamp stand. Chloe spent 36 hours in an intensive-care unit.