A PRISONER was killed by a fellow inmate in the Pietermaritzburg New Prison hospital in Napierville yesterday.

The death was the result of a gang-related fight. It is believed that the inmates had been at loggerheads for several days but no one is clear about the cause of the quarrel.

Police spokesperson Henry Budhram said the police were informed that the two inmates were involved in an altercation that led to one of them being seriously injured.

"The injured inmate was taken to the Edendale Hospital, where he died. It was discovered that he had been assaulted with a pipe hidden in a bed in the prison hospital," he said.

It is believed that both inmates were in the hospital at the time of the attack and were serving life sentences.

The dead man was jailed for murder and his attacker for rape.

Budhram said a murder case had been opened and the prisoner was expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court soon.

Meanwhile, Pietermaritzburg police have arrested a second man linked to the murder of a couple who were found burnt in the bushes on the farm Beverley in Dargle, Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands in June.

It is believed that Alan O'Neale, 57, and his wife Hannetjie Blom, 40, were allegedly killed by an employee.

The couple were attacked at their home and strangled before being set alight and then dumped on the farm.

The vehicles belonging to the couple were found near the Dargle-Impendle T-junction and on the N3 highway near Hilton.

"The suspect, the second man to to be nabbed for the murder, was arrested in Howick.

"He is expected to appear in the Howick magistrate's court soon," Budhram said.