A prison officer told a murder trial about the moment he found a child killer dead in his cell at high-security HMP Wakefield.
Convicted murderers Mark 'The Iceman' Fellows, 45; David Taylor, 64; and Lee Newall, 57, all deny murdering 33-year-old Kyle Bevan, who was found dead in his own cell at the high-security jail, having been stabbed 25 times.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Bevan had been convicted and sentenced for the murder of his stepchild in 2023 and was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years. He was a 'vulnerable [at risk] prisoner' in the jail, where there had been 'tensions' between that category of prisoner and the other, 'main' prisoners.
Prosecution's Case
Prosecutors alleged the three defendants worked as a 'team' and moved to Bevan's cell in the jail, where he was said to have been stabbed with an improvised weapon or weapons. Jason Pitter KC, prosecuting, claimed the alleged murder of Bevan may have been committed following a 'desire to be transferred'.
Mr Pitter said that when he was being transferred out of the prison, Taylor was allegedly heard by a nurse to shout, in the vicinity of Newell, 'nice working with you and the Iceman'.
Mr Pitter told jurors: "'Iceman' being a nickname for Fellows. What was the work that they had done together with The Iceman? We say that was the killing of Bevan and them operating together to do so."
Jurors also heard Taylor allegedly referred to Fellows as the 'Wakefield Dexter'. Jurors heard Fellows previously murdered Paul Massey and John Kinsella. He was known as 'The Iceman' because Fellows had 'killed two gangland members', it was said. Jurors heard Fellows was 'in effect a contract killer'.
Officer's Testimony
On the second day of the trial on Thursday (June 11), prosecutors called Justin Barrett, an officer at HMP Wakefield who found Mr Bevan dead on November 5 last year.
Mr Barrett said his job that morning was to unlock the cells for prisoners who needed to go to their jobs. He said he went to Bevan's cell.
The witness said: "I was informed by one of my colleagues that there was something wrong with him [Bevan]. I didn't know exactly what it was. He asked me to go and do a wellbeing check on him.
"He was given intel by another prisoner that there was something wrong." Mr Barrett said that upon looking into the cell: "It looked like he was asleep. He was lying on his stomach with his face facing the side."
"I couldn't quite see his face. I could just see his head tilted. He was clothed. The sheet was covering half of his body, from his waist down to his legs."
He said there did not appear to be anything 'unusual'. Mr Barrett then said he opened his cell and shouted his name, receiving no response.
He said: "First I grabbed his foot to give it a shake and he still didn't respond. I was calling his name at the same time."
As he got closer, Mr Barrett said he could see his face. He said: "It wasn't a good colour, it was blueish, white blueish. It definitely wasn't a normal colour."
Mr Barrett said as he got closer he could see 'blood around his neck'. He then said he saw dried blood on his top and on the bed.
The witness said: "His body was very stiff as I lifted him. From what I could see he appeared to be dead." Mr Barrett said he had known Bevan for a couple of years prior.
He described Bevan as being 'very reserved' and someone who 'kept himself to himself'. "He didn't cause many issues with the officers, he just did his own thing," Mr Barrett said.
Earlier Evidence
Earlier in the trial, jurors were shown a CCTV clip which was said to show the three defendants following Bevan into his cell the previous evening. Bevan was only discovered the following morning.
Fellows (15/9/80) of no fixed address; Taylor (26/4/62) of no fixed address; and Newall (5/10/68) of no fixed address all deny murder.
Proceeding.
