EXCLUSIVE: Oscar Pistorius will have 24-hour police protection when he is paroled next month after police were told his life outside prison was at risk after serving half of his sentence for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.

Oscar Pistorius will have 24-hour police protection when he is paroled next month after detectives learned his life was in danger, MailOnline can reveal on the 10th anniversary of Reeva Steenkamp’s murder.

The 36-year-old could be released within weeks after serving half of his 13-year sentence for the murder of then-girlfriend Steenkamp.

But the police in Johannesburg received information that he was going to become a target for gangsters who wanted to avenge the murder of a young woman.

The athlete, who had a stash of 10 firearms, including an AK-47, had already entered the radar of Johannesburg’s underworld for threatening one of the city’s notorious tough men.

Pistorius, known as The Blade Runner after his racing prosthesis, fired a gun from a car’s sunroof and fired a gun at a restaurant just weeks before he killed 29-year-old Reeva, further putting him in the focus of placed the underworld. drove

During his trial, Johannesburg hardman and former professional footballer Marc Batchelor was a witness for the prosecution and a menacing figure in the gallery as he spoke of his contempt for the athlete.

Batchelor was threatened by Pistorius, who said he would “break his legs” over a dispute over a woman. Batchelor was also a friend of Reeva and sought a life sentence for the athlete.

He was known to have friends from the underworld, including one who killed a businessman and others who worked as assassins.

But Batchelor was shot dead three years ago by two masked gunmen in his car outside his home in Olivedale, Johannesburg, in an attack that police say was orchestrated. No arrests have been made and the murder has not been linked to Pistorius.

But detectives know that Pistorius’ name is being circulated among the city’s underworld and assassins.

Officials will consult with his family about how best to protect him once he is free and will offer their support.

A police source told MailOnline: “Pistorius killed a young woman and that in itself is a big no as far as the Johannesburg crime fraternity is concerned.

He also threatened Batchelor, who still has many friends in the town and harbors a great dislike for Oscar Pistorius.

Oscar Pistorius holds his head in his hands during his trial in the murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, March 13, 2014

Johannesburg hardman and former professional footballer Marc Batchelor (pictured at the 2014 trial) was a witness for the prosecution and cut a menacing figure in the gallery as he spoke of his disdain for the athlete known as The Blade Runner

“Oscar is a murderer, but once he has served his sentence, he should be able to rebuild his life and live safely.

“Of course the police don’t like murderers, but they deserve full protection from all evil, and he gets it.”

South Africa cannot afford to link any further acts of violence to Pistorius and the police will work very hard to ensure his safety.

“We received information that there are people who say he deserved to pay for the murder of a young woman.”

It is ten years ago today that Pistorius murdered Steenkamp, ​​a model and law graduate, in his apartment.

He claimed that he mistook Reeva for an intruder by shooting her through the bathroom door.

Her parents threw flowers into the Indian Ocean near their home in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, in the same place where her ashes were buried and near the beach where she played as a child.

Reeva’s father Barry (left, with wife June) spoke to ITV on the 10th anniversary of his daughter’s death about meeting Pistorius in prison

The South African athlete, nicknamed Blade Runner because of his racing prosthetics, is serving a 13-year sentence for the infamous Valentine’s Day murder in 2013 when he claimed he mistook Reeva for an intruder by shooting her through the bathroom door.

Reeva’s father, Barry, spoke to ITV on Tuesday, the 10th anniversary of his daughter’s death, about meeting Pistorius in prison.

He said he hoped the killer felt remorse “like someone who was in prison that you killed or killed someone”.

“After that, there’s always regret, except for a single person who doesn’t care or something. But I am sure he felt Reeva after he shot Reeva,” he said.

But Barry said when he spoke to Pistorius, he didn’t get the answers he was hoping for about the motivation behind his daughter’s death.

“When I arrived [prison] and Oscar, I asked him certain questions. Junie and I wanted to know if it was the truth, that what we felt was the truth – that he actually killed her out of anger,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“I didn’t get the answer I wanted. You know it didn’t take long. It could have cost us all day in jail, but I cut it short by saying we’re not getting the answers we want and we’ll leave it at that.

And we’ll leave that to Oscar. Only Oscar knows the true story,” said Barry.