Three men are accused of killing Kyle Bevan in his cell, where he was found stabbed 25 times
Kyle Bevan, who killed his two-year-old stepdaughter Lola James, was stabbed 25 times in his cell at HMP Wakefield in November last year before being "put to bed.
"Three of his fellow inmates - Lee Newell, 56, David Taylor and Mark Fellows, 45 - are all standing trial at Leeds Crown Court accused of his murder. Bevan, who was in a cell on the fourth floor of the A-wing, was known to be a VP As he opened the trial to jurors earlier this month, prosecutor Jason Pitter KC said there was already tension at the prison due to "main prisoners," including the defendants, indicating they did not want to be housed with VPs, in particular those who were sex offenders or had committed offences against children.
The three defendants, who were said to be known to interact, were housed on the second floor, two below Bevan. Mr Pitter said it was a place "that would not ordinarily be visited by these defendants.
" It was said in the days before Bevan's death, there was "increased interaction between the defendants," which Mr Pitter said "was in preparation and anticipation of what they were to do",Following the alleged attack, it was said Taylor had made comments in front of staff members at the prison, including one where he was heard to shout by a nurse in the vicinity of Mr Newell, 'Nice working with you and the iceman. ' The prosecutor added that Taylor went on to say he witnessed an incident where a prisoner was "put to bed".
In his closing speech to jurors on Wednesday, Mr Pitter said the defendant's previous convictions for murder "show each has a tendency to commit this sort of offence.
" He said: "You must not convict a defendant just because he has offended before, but you can use the evidence to support the prosecution's case if you think it is right to do so. " Speaking of a comment made by Taylor in which he said, "Nice doing business with you," Mr Pitter said: "David Taylor couldn't have been more proud of the work or the business they had done together.
"Those words were uttered by him in the small segregation area that the three of them had been housed in after the killing of Kyle Bevan before they were shipped off together away from Wakefield... "You may conclude that to them, it was a successful bit of business. 'Business' was, in so many words, an appropriate word for him to represent their joint enterprise together. Business, in a way you may feel, was a carefully coordinated venture.
"It was carried out with real efficiency by people who knew what they were doing. There were 25 stab wounds, two of which in particular to either side of the neck, cutting major arteries and veins.
"They punctured his heart in the process and then tidily tucked him up in bed covered in blood and bleeding out on his mattress, looking like, in all intents and purposes, as if he was asleep and nothing had happened. Mr Pitter said the attack took four minutes and 39 seconds. He added: "Four minutes and 39 seconds when they were all in that tiny cell together.
Four minutes and 39 seconds from when they had all entered together to when they left together in celebration.
"They are the ones, those three defendants, who know what happened and what they did in that cell. " The court heard that none of the three defendants took the opportunity to give evidence from the witness stand. Mr Pitter said: "They have not taken that relatively short walk to the witness box, as others have, to explain why they are innocent, and we say that is because they can't. Not in a sensible way.
"It was said Taylor had also claimed he would be "not guilty all the way," which the prosecution said the defendants are entitled to claim. Mr Pitter added: "They are entitled to say simply to you: 'The Prosecution must prove their case.
' "We have no problem with that. No problem with being required to prove the case, that is their right and is what the prosecution have to do in every criminal case. It does, of course, mean there is no evidence to contradict the prosecution's case. There is nothing to contradict what we say the obvious and proper common sense inferences that can properly be drawn from the evidence in this case.
"Let's begin with the attitudes. While it may have been the case that there was a hostility at HMP Wakefield against people who had committed offences against children and the regime, it was one that the three of them shared.
"Such that we know two of them, Fellows and Newell, had expressed a desire to move away. While it may be that on a human level, we can have some understanding or sympathy for that desire not to be at HMP Wakefield, in simply terms they don't have a right to say how the regime is operated and they must be subjected to that regime.
"The offences each of them had committed, including Kyle Bevan, meant they were subject to the regime and the law and they are the rules that had to be followed. "Mitigating for Newell, Mr Stone, told the court: "There are, in effect, three trials taking place, and you need to reach three separate verdicts and you have to reach them separately. That means looking at all of the evidence in the case.
"Mr Stone told jurors there was "no CCTV" of the defendants in Bevan's cell and added: "The reality is that you don't know 100 per cent what happened in that cell during the currency of those five minutes... We have to look at Mr Newell before he went into the cell and after and look at the triangle of evidence: CCTV, the issues of blood and the DNA and the issues of pathology.
"You're going to want to look at who caused the injury and who was the stabber or the stabbers and was there someone in there who didn't do anything? "Because that period would be entitled to be acquitted. There is a real problem for you determining if anyone is guilty because the evidence is not there and you have to ask yourself whether the evidence around it is sufficient.
"There is not a scintilla of evidence in that timeline as to Mr Newell being armed and if he wasn't armed, how did he possibly stab Kyle Bevan? "The answer to the issue simply as far as he is concerned, no weapons were found on him or weapons that could be connected to him.
If he didn't go in that particular cell without a weapon and was present when this man had the injuries inflicted, that doesn't make him automatically guilty of murder.
"That's what you have got to wrestle with. Is this a person that stabbed? We say 'no' because where is the evidence of it?
"And we say, 'Where is the evidence of that? ' We say there isn't. We know you're interested that he didn't give evidence. It is his right to not give evidence.
"It is his right to say, 'Look I'm serving a whole life order, I know a bit more about murder more than probably you. "I have been in prison since I was 19 and have been in prison my whole life. You have to bring the case. If you say I'm guilty, you of all people know you have to prove it and make this jury sure I'm guilty. '
Please follow us on Google to support us United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Child killer stabbed 25 times at high security jail, murder trial toldThree prisoners, including Mark ‘The Iceman’ Fellows, are on trial accused of murdering Kyle Bevan
Read more »
Initiative sees items made by inmates sold at Rushden LakesOne man says he will leave prison with a job offer owing to the skills he learned in the workshop.
Read more »
Three Inmates Accused of Murdering Child Killer Kyle Bevan in Prison CellProsecutors allege three fellow prisoners coordinated the fatal stabbing of Kyle Bevan at HMP Wakefield, leaving him 'tidily tucked up in bed' after a swift attack. The defendants, all with violent criminal histories, allegedly expressed hostility toward child offenders. The jury must determine guilt based on facts, not moral judgments.
Read more »
Inmates 'shouted nice doing business with you' after murder of child killerKyle Bevan, who killed his two-year-old stepdaughter, was stabbed 25 times in his cell in HMP Wakefield
Read more »