Michael Sams, who murdered the teenage prostitute Julie Dart and kidnapped the estate agent Stephanie Slater before imprisoning her in a coffin, has boasted that he is better off in jail than living as a pensioner on the outside.

Sams, 65, who is serving four life sentences at Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire, wrote to Inside Time, a newspaper for prisoners, in response to a campaign for inmates to be allowed their state pensions.

“How many pensioners in the community, who are totally dependent on the basic state pension and live in rented accommodation, are able to spend around £20 per week on luxuries?” the former tool repairer asked.

“Most struggle to keep warm in winter, afraid to put the heating on, barely eating, let alone getting three square (ready-made) meals per day. And three or four choices per course at that!

“Free access to the gym each day to keep those joints supple and no bills except for £1 per week TV rental.

“Have you ever seen an OAP inmate in tatty clothes or scruffy trainers? Not a hope! Materially, we OAPs in prison are far better off than those in the community.”

He opposed the campaign to give inmates a pension, but was in favour of allowing retirement-age prisoners who are unable to work the same weekly amount as those who can.

He also advised younger criminals to invest their “gains” in a private pension so that when they “retired” in prison they would have a steady income.

Sams was jailed for life after his wife recognised a recording of his voice played on the BBC Crimewatch programme.

The killer, from Sutton on Trent, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty in 1993 at Nottingham Crown Court to kidnapping Miss Slater, 25, in January 1992, to false imprisonment and to demanding a £175,000 ransom for her.

He denied kidnapping Miss Dart, 18, from Leeds, in July 1991. He also denied murdering her, making two demands for a £140,000 ransom and blackmailing British Rail for £200,000 by threatening to derail a train, but was convicted.

Mervyn Kohler, spokesman for Help the Aged, said yesterday: “In material terms, Mr Sams is probably absolutely right. But there’s one small shortfall here. Given the choice, I’d much rather be outside than inside.”

Norman Brennan, founder of the Victims of Crime Trust, said that he was appalled by Sams’s claims. “I think the whole country is sick to death of listening to the bleeding hearts and hearing about the human rights and civil liberties of those who have committed the most appalling crimes,” he said.

A spokesman for Inside Time said: “Michael Sams is of course fully entitled to his opinion but I have to tell him that . . . he is very much in a minority of one.

“We remain firmly of the opinion that it is morally wrong to deny state pension benefits to serving prisoners.”

A secure retirement

— The basic state pension is £87.30 a week but pension credit guarantees put that up to £119 for single pensioners, while married couples get £181.70

— Michael Sams’s imprisonment costs the taxpayer £40,000 a year

— Whitemoor is a maximum-security, modern jail for Category A and B prisoners. Sams has a cell to himself

— He enjoys in-cell TV, PIN phones, shower, library and laundry facilities, use of a gymnasium and visits from a GP

— There is a four-week menu cycle with five choices on each lunch menu. There are three meals a day. For lunch and tea, prisoners select from a pudding, fruit or yoghurt. Sams can choose to use his own crockery

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