A child killer was stabbed 25 times in a prison cell attack lasting almost five minutes before being ‘put to bed’ and left to bleed to death, a court has heard.
Kyle Bevan, 33, was found dead in his cell at maximum-security HMP Wakefield last November, where he was serving life with a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his step-daughter, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Prosecutors say Bevan was followed into his cell by fellow inmates Lee Newell, 57, Mark Fellows, 45, and David Taylor, 63, before being ‘left for dead.’
When they emerged, CCTV footage captured them in a ‘satisfied, job done mood,’ it was said.
Bevan suffered at least 30 injuries and his heart and major blood vessels were slashed, with one wound damaging bone, jurors heard.
Opening the case at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday, Jason Pitter KC, said: ‘Four minutes and 39 seconds – that is how long it took.
‘That is the length of time between Kyle Bevan entering his cell at Wakefield prison, immediately followed by the defendants, his fellow prisoners, one after the other: Lee Newell, Mark Fellows and David Taylor.
‘The prosecution say they followed him in there with real purpose.
‘This case is about what that purpose was.’
Kyle Bevan, 33, was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years for the murder of a child
The court heard that Bevan was stabbed ‘25 times’ with a ‘sharp weapon’ in his fourth-floor cell on the prison’s A Wing on November 5 last year.
He also suffered other puncture wounds from a separate object.
However guards did not realise he was dead until the following day, the court heard.
Mr Pitter added: ‘Then they left him for dead, one after the other.
‘Not before, though, putting him to bed – not our phrase, but a phrase we anticipate you will hear later in the evidence.
‘Leaving him as if asleep. And there it was that he, on his bed, bled out. Bled to death, and his body then not discovered until the roll call in the prison the following morning.
‘The purpose was clear – to carry out a joint attack on Kyle Bevan to kill him.’
Fellows and Newell were serving life sentences for murder at the time of the attack, the court was told.
Jurors were told of tensions at Wakefield Prison, where 77 per cent of inmates were classed as ‘vulnerable prisoners’ – many who had committed crimes which had a ‘particular moral repugnancy’ including those involving children.
Lee Newell, 57, was serving a life sentence for murder when he allegedly attacked Bevan
Mark Fellows, 45, was serving life for two offences of murder when he allegedly took part in the killing of Bevan
However so-called ‘main prisoners’ were allowed to freely interact with these ‘vulnerable prisoners’, it was said.
The court was also told that the ‘main prisoners’ had become a ‘different calibre’ of prisoner, including inmates involved in more serious offending such as gangland offences and murder.
Prison guards later found a makeshift weapon – a folded piece of metal – hidden behind a TV, which was found to have Bevan’s blood on it, jurors heard.
Other weapons were recovered ‘secreted in a container of chilli sauce’ in Taylor’s cell, it was said.
On his transfer out of the prison, Taylor was allegedly heard by a nurse, in the vicinity of Newell, shouting: ‘Nice working with you and the Ice Man.’
The court heard ‘Ice Man’ was a nickname for Fellows.
Mr Pitter continued: ‘What was the work that they had done together with the Ice Man?
‘We say that was the killing of Bevan and them operating together to do it.’
All three defendants deny murder.
The trial continues.
