Child killer stabbed in prison ‘looked like he was sleeping’ when found – court

Katie Dickinson, Press Association

A child killer who was stabbed to death and left in the bed of his prison cell “looked like he was sleeping” when staff went to check on him the next morning, a trial has heard.

Inmates Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, 57, and David Taylor, 64, are accused of murdering 33-year-old Kyle Bevan at high-security HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire.

Bevan was serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 28 years for murdering his step-child in Pembrokeshire in 2020, when he was killed on November 4 last year.

Prosecutors say the three defendants were seen on CCTV going into his cell and emerging less than five minutes later.

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 after suffering 25 stab wounds.

On Thursday, prison officer Justin Barrett, who found Bevan’s body, said his job that morning was to unlock the cells,

He said he was asked to do a well-being check on Bevan by a fellow officer who had “been given intel from another prisoner that there was something wrong with Bevan”.

Mr Barrett told Leeds Crown Court: “First I opened his flap and checked – to me it looked like he was sleeping.

“He was lying on his stomach with his head facing the side… From the distance I couldn’t quite see his face but I could just see his head tilting.

“He was lying on his stomach, his leg was off the bed, his head was turned my way, to the left.

“The sheet was covering half his body, from his waist to his legs. He looked like he was asleep.”

Mr Barrett said he opened the cell door and shouted Bevan’s name before grabbing his foot and giving it a shake when he failed to respond.

He told jurors: “I was calling his name at the same time. I moved closer to him and kept shouting louder ‘Bevan, Bevan’.

“His face wasn’t a good colour, it was blue-ish, white blue-ish. It’s hard to remember but it definitely wasn’t a normal colour.

“When I went in for a closer inspection, I could see the blood around his neck.

“His body was very stiff as I lifted him… From what I could see, he did appear to be dead.”

Raised the alarm

Mr Barrett said he left the cell and raised the alarm.

Asked by prosecutor Jason Pitter KC what Bevan was like, he said: “He was very reserved, kept himself to himself most of the time.

“Didn’t cause many issues with the officers, just did his own thing.”

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

All three defendants deny murder.