Child killer was stabbed 25 times in his cell at HMP Wakefield bled to death, jury told

A child killer was stabbed 25 times in his prison cell and left to bleed to death in his bed, a jury has been told.

Inmates Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, 57, and David Taylor, 64, went on trial at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday accused of murdering 33-year-old Kyle Bevan at high-security HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.

A jury was told how Bevan had been convicted of murdering his step-child and was serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 28 years.

Jason Pitter KC, prosecuting, showed the jurors CCTV footage of Bevan entering his cell on November 4 last year, followed by the three defendants who, he said, came out four minutes and 39 seconds later.

Mr Pitter said the trio emerged displaying “something of a satisfied, job-done mood”.

The prosecutor said Bevan was put in his bed after the attack and was not discovered until the following morning when it was found he had bled to death.

He had suffered 25 stab wounds which penetrated his jugular vein, aorta and his heart, plus other injuries which are thought to have been caused by a different pointed weapon.

Mr Pitter said a folded piece of metal was later found with Bevan’s blood on it, which had been made from a piece of a television.

He told the jury of seven women and five men that, at the time of Bevan’s death, around 77% of the inmates at Wakefield were classed as vulnerable prisoners (VPs).

The prosecutor said that, unlike other prisons, vulnerable prisoners were not separated from other inmates, called main prisoners (MPs), and the wing had an “open door” policy which allowed prisoners to freely interact during “association”.

Mr Pitter told the jury: “Whilst there may be an obvious temptation to question the need and wisdom of that regime, the mixing of the prisoners, that is not a question for you in this trial.

“What it did, though, was to contribute to a situation where there was tension, in an obvious direction, between those groups of prisoners.”

Mr Pitter said VPs were bullied and MPs indicated that they did not want to be housed in the same wing as sex offenders or those who had committed offences against children, creating “an element of fear amongst some VPs”.

He said there had been another murder in the jail in the weeks before Bevan was killed and “other incidents which were well known within the prison”.

He told the jury: “You may feel that the system in operation meant that the prison guards were not able to keep an eye on all prisoners at all times.”

The prosecutor said Bevan “kept himself to himself” and would mainly stay in his cell, often asking to be locked inside.

He told the jury that Newell was serving a life sentence for murder and had “expressed a dislike of VPs”.

Mr Pitter said Fellows was serving life sentences for two offences of murder and what he listed as conspiracy to cause really serious harm.

He said Fellows had formally applied to move from Wakefield not long before Bevan’s killing.

The prosecutor said Taylor was also a category A prisoner and had recently been transferred to Wakefield in relation to the murder of an associate, to which he pleaded guilty, and the attempted murder of a police officer while he was in custody.

He said Taylor had subsequently been convicted of this latter offence.

Mr Pitter said Taylor boasted about his ability to make makeshift weapons.

Some were found secreted in a container of chilli sauce in his cell, but they could not be matched to Bevan’s injuries.

The prosecutor said that, as Taylor was transferred out of Wakefield, he was heard to shout by a nurse in the vicinity of Newell: “Nice working with you and the Iceman.”

Mr Pitter said Iceman was a nickname for Fellows.

He said Taylor also referred to Fellows as the “Wakefield Dexter”, adding: “We will wait to see the significance of that name.”

Mr Pitter described how the three defendants followed Bevan into his cell on the fourth landing of the wing on November 4.

He said: “It was four minutes and 39 seconds later that those three left Bevan’s cell together, as if nothing had happened.

“Bevan did not.

“In short, whilst the three of them were in that cell with him, he was violently killed.

“That involved him being stabbed and injured, over 30 times, with at least one, and probably more than one, weapon.

“They had left him in such a way that he appeared to be asleep in his bed.”

Mr Pitter said: “They left as if nothing had happened.

“That may be an understatement.

“Considering what had happened in that cell, you may conclude that there was something of a satisfied, job-done mood amongst the three men which you will be able to discern from their actions in the few minutes after the fatal attack.”

The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, was adjourned until Thursday.

All three defendants deny murder.