Oscar Pistorius will swap tiny cell for luxury three-storey mansion in Pretoria's plushest suburb where he is set to become a preacher

Oscar Pistorius will swap his tiny cell for the luxury of a multi-million pound three-storey mansion in Pretoria’s plushest suburb where he is set to study to become a preacher, Mail Online can reveal.

He will fold away his orange prison uniform, which he wore for today’s parole hearing, pick up his personal items and leave Atteridgeville Prison behind him on January 5th. But it will not be simply a Good Friday for the committed Christian.

The 37-year-old Blade Runner will have to keep an eye over his shoulder for the rest of his life after Johannesburg police received information that the city’s underworld were out for revenge over Reeva’s murder.

Gun-happy Pistorius, who once fired a gun into the floor of a restaurant among startled diners, has sworn enemies and two underworld figures showed their muscle and menaced him by appearing at his trial in the public gallery.

One of those hardmen, former professional footballer Marc Batchelor, has since been shot dead in a gangland style hit in Johannesburg and the other was convicted killer Mikey Schultz, who carried out a contract murder.

While out on bail and before being gaoled, he became paranoid about contract killers targeting him and kept away from windows and had them closed whenever he was in a building in fear of an assassin’s bullet.

In prison, Mail Online has learned, his paranoia did not relent, and he told of his concern that his food might be poisoned on orders of his underworld tormentors.

‘He began eating beans straight from a can so he could be sure that the food had not been got at and poisoned’ the source said.

But in the complex mind of the tormented former global hero, he made attempts to play the hardman himself; getting involved in fights and hanging out in jail with a dangerous Czech gangster.

The athlete’s decision to take up smoking – he is now a chain smoker – is claimed to have been made to toughen up his own persona in the eyes of fellow convicts.

But Pistorius will never be allowed to touch a firearm again, and sources said he is determined to turn over a new life, dedicate his life to God and to helping others.

His uncle’s home is guarded by a security team and any driver entering the street where he will be living, has to have their palm print scanned on an intricate camera system at roadblocks to identify them. Many houses have high walls and guards.

Pistorius is also likely to be protected by a security detail whenever he ventures out into public places, as he was during his trial.

Arnold Pistorius is said to be like a second father figure to the shamed athlete and is also a deeply religious Christian.

Before meals he and his family hold hands and say grace together thanking God for their food and all are regular church-goers.

Pistorius, despite being a ruthless murderer, has become a spiritual guide to other convicts inside his jail block, encouraging them to read the bible and worship Jesus.

While ensconced in his Uncle Arnold’s mansion on a leafy street in Waterkloof, where properties sell for £10 million and upwards, he will be encouraged by his deeply law-abiding family to rationalise and find sanctity in God.

It is this religious backbone which his family hope will steer him back onto the right path and a life dedicated full time to God as a preacher has been mooted.

His parole restrictions means he can not venture out of Waterkloof and therefore the heady nightclubs of Johannesburg, where he would party into the early hours regularly, are out of bounds.

Businessman Uncle Arnold is on record as saying that since his terrible crime Oscar has ‘matured a lot and his soul is in the right place.’

Christmas decorations and a large crucifix are placed on the gates in celebration of the coming Christian season of goodwill.

But with the level of anger aimed at him within the city, he may well find it wise to pray even harder for his future.