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Oscar Pistorius has been rushed to hospital with injuries to his wrists after reportedly trying to self-harm.

The Paralympic gold medallist was sentenced to six years in July for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her at his home in 2012.

The athlete was taken to Pretoria’s Kalafong Hospital on Saturday afternoon at around 12.30pm with wrist injuries.

Prison authorities said Pistorius told them the injuries were not the result of a "suicide attempt" and that he injured himself falling out of bed.

(Image: Getty)

But a prison source told City Press that Pistorius had injured himself intentionally and that blades were found in his cell at the notorious Kgosi Mampuru II prison.

Disgraced sprinter Pistorius won gold medals at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympics in Athens, Beijing and London respectively.

The double amputee shot Steenkamp dead on Valentine's Day 2013, claiming he mistook his partner for an intruder.

(Image: Reuters)

He was originally found guilty of culpable homicide but the conviction was later upgraded to murder.

Legal experts later slammed his six-year jail sentence - far below the recommended 15-year jail term - as "an insult to the women of South Africa".

(Image: Reuters)

Pistorius returned to the Supreme Court to face an appeal shortly after his release from prison last year.

The appeal judge agreed with prosecutors and convicted Pistorius of murder.

Judge Lorimer Leach dismissed Pistorius' argument that he was acting in self-defence, finding that there was no rational basis for him to have feared for his life.

The judge said: "He must have foreseen that the person he was firing at behind the door might have been fatally injured."

(Image: Barcroft)

Judge Thokozile Masipa described Pistorius as a "fallen hero and broken man" who is suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

South Africa and the rest of the world were left stunned when Ms Steenkamp was shot and killed by Pistorius at his home in Pretoria.

The model was in the bathroom of the athlete's £265,000 home when he fired four shots through the door.

(Image: South African Police)

(Image: Getty) (Image: South Africa Police)

Neighbours in the upmarket Silver Lakes gated community told police they had heard shouting and screaming earlier in the night.

In a desperate bid to escape a murder conviction he told police and the courts he left Reeva in bed to confront an intruder before shooting through the door.

Pistorius - who underwent a double leg amputation below the knee as an 11-month-old - claimed he felt frightened and vulnerable as he wasn't wearing his prosthetic legs when he thought he heard the sound of his bathroom window opening.

(Image: Barcroft Media) (Image: EMPICS) (Image: Reuters) (Image: Getty)

Reeva was facing the closed door when she was hit in the hip by the first bullet. She then fell back onto a magazine rack as a second bullet hit her right arm.

The final two shots from a 9mm pistol hit her in the head and she died in Pistorius' arms.

Judge Masipa told the court Pistorius had suffered severe mental health problems since Reeva's murder.

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