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The widower of murdered nurse Anita Cobby learned he was staying in the same hospital at the same time as one of the five pack rapists who killed her.

John Cobby was being treated for a chest infection at Sydney's Price of Wales Hospital when killer Gary Murphy was rushed there after being bashed in prison.

'It's just as well I didn't know or I would have tried to do something,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Cobby had no idea Murphy had been transferred there after he was beaten by at least six inmates.

John Cobby (pictured) was at Sydney's Price of Wales Hospital at the same time killer Gary Murphy was recovering from a prison bashing in the same hospital

Gary Murphy jailed for life over the murder of nurse Anita Cobby has been photographed in public for the first time in three decades

The murder of onetime beauty queen Anita Cobby (pictured) shocked Australia and led to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty after her naked, broken body was found in a paddock at Prospect in western Sydney

Thin and grey, Murphy (pictured) declined to respond when asked if he had anything to say to Ms Cobby's family or how he felt about the likelihood he would die in jail

The 61-year-old killer was bashed in a shower block on June 25, and was taken to hospital with severe head injuries. 

Investigators believe the attack was motivated by his heinous crimes 33 years ago.

Mr Cobby said it was lucky that he didn't know of Murphy's whereabouts, as he knows the layout of the hospital well after working there as a nurse for more than a decade.

Despite being quite sick during his recovery, the widower said he wouldn't have been able to help himself if he knew Murphy was close.

'I have dreamt for years and still do about killing them. It never goes away,' he said. 

Gary Murphy left his secure ward at Prince of Wales Hospital on Thursday under heavy security and was taken back to Long Bail jail.  

Murphy was wheeled out of the hospital handcuffed and wearing a security belt around his waist shortly after 11.30am and put into a white Hyundai iLoad van.

Murphy, his brothers Michael and Leslie, John Travers and Michael Murdoch were jailed for life over the rape and murder of 26-year-old Ms Cobby in 1986

The 61-year-old killer was rushed to hospital on June 25 after he was bashed by at least six inmates in a shower block at Long Bay jail 

Murphy has refused to tell prison authorities who bashed him, instead claiming he 'slipped over' in a shower block. But Daily Mail Australia understands prison officers identified six men suspected of taking part in the attack. Two were small-time thieves and two were paedophiles

Murphy was loaded into a prison van under heavy security and taken back to Long Bay jail to continue his life sentence for the rape and murder of much loved nurse Anita Cobby

Thin and grey, he declined to respond when asked if he had anything to say to Ms Cobby's family or how he felt about the likelihood he would die in jail. 

Murphy, who had been in Long Bay for just one day when he was bashed, has told police and prison authorities he simply slipped over in the shower.

Gary Murphy, 61, was attacked in a shower block at Long Bay jail in Sydney on June 25

He was initially taken to Darlinghurst's St Vincent's Hospital after the attack but was moved to Prince of Wales at Randwick for further tests four days later.

Murphy, his brothers Michael and Leslie, John Travers and Michael Murdoch were jailed for life over the rape and murder of 26-year-old Ms Cobby in 1986. 

Gary Stephen 'Smurf' Murphy, the second oldest of Ms Cobby's killers, wet himself when he was arrested for her murder.

His jail bashing was investigated by police and prison authorities but Murphy refused to co-operate with their inquiries.

Murphy, who has been in maximum security custody for 33 years, would be in line for a further dose of 'prison justice' if he named those who assaulted him.   

Daily Mail Australia understands prison officers identified six men suspected of taking part in the attack. Two were small-time thieves and two were paedophiles.

Murphy had been transferred to Long Bay from Goulburn jail, where he had been held since 2005, for medical treatment in Sydney.

It appears his attackers were aware that Murphy was being moved from Goulburn and were ready to bash him when he arrived.  

Murphy (right)  is taken into Blacktown Police Station at the time of his arrest in 1986 for the rape and murder of Anita Cobby

Gary Murphy, one of the five men who murdered Anita Cobby (pictured) in 1986 was taken to St Vincent's Hospital after being bashed in Long Bay jail, a day after he was transferred there from Goulburn. Murphy has refused to identify his attackers to police or prison authorities

Gary Murphy (far right) is taken by police to the spot where Anita Cobby's naked, broken body was found in a paddock in western Sydney. The killer is pictured with marks on his face caused during his capture the previous night. Murphy suffered serious head and facial injuries in jail

Murphy was assaulted in 10 wing of area 1 at the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre (MSPC). 

The MSPC is currently home to reviled inmates including Michael Guider, the serial paedophile who in 1986 killed nine-year-old schoolgirl Samantha Knight.

Mohammed Skaf, one of a gang of young Lebanese-Australian men who committed a a series of pack rapes in western Sydney in 2000, is also there. 

Murphy, who suffered head and facial wounds, had been expected to return to Long Bay two days after his assault but was kept in hospital to undergo X-rays for injuries to his rib cage and lungs.

A New South Wales Police spokesman said after the prison attack that Murphy had reportedly been assaulted shortly before 10am on June 25. 

He was taken to St Vincent's in a serious but stable condition then transferred to Prince of Wales where he underwent further surgery on July 19.

A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said five possible assailants had been placed in segregation.

Anita Cobby (pictured as Miss Western Suburbs in 1979) was snatched while walking home from Blacktown railway station and pack raped

John Cobby (left), the widower of murdered nurse Anita Cobby (right) celebrated the news one of her killers, Gary Murphy, was bashed by fellow inmates at Long Bay jail on June 25, saying he wanted to buy the attackers champagne to thank them. 'I hope they broke a lot of bones' 

Murphy, one of nine siblings and a father of two, began his life of crime aged 14 when he was caught stealing.

Of below average intelligence, as a child he had a speech problem caused by a hearing defect and spent time in juvenile homes. 

Murphy's adult criminal record included stints in jail for burglary, car theft and escaping lawful custody.

He was considered a petty criminal until the night he and his accomplices kidnapped and killed Ms Cobby. 

The murder of the onetime beauty queen shocked Australia and led to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty after her naked, broken body was found in a paddock at Prospect in western Sydney. 

Ms Cobby had been snatched while walking home from Blacktown railway station and pack raped. Having been dragged through barbed wire into a paddock, her throat was slit with a knife. 

Gary Murphy points out to detectives Graham Rosetta (left with hands on hips) and Tony Waters (right) the direction in which he and his four accomplices dragged Anita Cobby through the western Sydney paddock where they raped and killed her in February 1986

The widower of Ms Cobby celebrated Murphy being bashed in jail when told the news.  

John Cobby said he wanted to thank the inmates involved in the attack and hoped they 'broke a lot of bones'. 

'I'd like to know who they are so I can buy them a bottle of champagne,' Mr Cobby told the Daily Telegraph. 

'I'm not one to celebrate people being hurt but in this case I hope they broke a lot of bones.'  

Mr Cobby also rejoiced in February when Murphy's brother Michael died of cancer at Long Bay's hospital aged 65.  

'I hope it was painful for him,' he said. 'One down, four to go.' 

On the night Ms Cobby was abducted, Travers, Murdoch and the Murphy brothers stole a car and got drunk at Doonside. 

They then drove to Windsor looking to buy drugs. Michael Murphy later said the group needed money for petrol and they saw Ms Cobby walking down the road.

'We were just going to grab her handbag until John [Travers] said, 'Let's take her with us',' Gary Murphy claimed.

What followed was a sickening sequence of physical and sexual assaults.

Ms Cobby was repeatedly raped, punched and kicked while still in the car and had a knife held to her throat to stop her screams.

An angry crowd congregates outside the Blacktown police station as news breaks of the arrest of the five men who raped and murdered Anita Cobby. This images was taken on 24 February 1986, almost three weeks after the nurse was killed at Prospect in far western Sydney

Her attackers stopped to buy petrol before driving to Reen Road at Prospect where the onetime beauty queen was dragged through a barbed wire fence into a paddock and raped again. 

Travers cut her throat as Ms Cobby fought to stay alive. Her body was discovered naked and face down, with her eyes still open, in the field two days later.

When Gary's brother Michael (pictured) died of cancer Ms Cobby's widower John Cobby was delighted. 'I hope it was painful for him'

The five killers were arrested within three weeks of the attack.

Gary, then 28, along with his brothers Michael, 33, and Leslie, 22, as well as Murdoch, 19, and Travers, 18 - were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail.

A confession by Travers, the ringleader of the group, was secretly recorded.

'We were all drunk and she f***ing seen all of us. So I just cut her,' Travers said.

Gary Murphy denied being present the night Ms Cobby was killed. 

'I did not rape, I did not murder, I was not there,' he said during the trial.  

In sentencing the killers Justice Alan Maxwell said: 'This was a calculated killing done in cold blood.'

'The circumstances of these prisoners and the circumstances of the murder of Anita Lorraine Cobby prompt me to recommend that the official files of each prisoner should be clearly marked, 'Never to be released',' he said.

Michael Murphy had been in an out of hospital before he died. Shortly before his death he was asked if he would apologise to Ms Cobby's family.

'Why would I f**king apologise to anyone while you b******s leave me in this f**king [hospital] room and treat me like this?' he replied.

Gary Murphy was assaulted at about 10.20am on June 25 in 10 wing of area 1 at the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre at the Long Bay prison complex (pictured)