Mark Fellows, David Taylor and Lee Newell were given whole-life orders for the Kyle Bevan charge after a court found they murdered him in his cell at HMP Wakefield. Mrs Justice McGowan imposed the sentences at Leeds Crown Court, making clear that none of the three men will be released.
Bevan was stabbed 25 times. The court heard the attack used makeshift weapons, including one made from a metal part from the back of a television, and that the three men were seen on CCTV at about 17:30 following him into his cell and cornering him.
Leeds Crown Court sentence
Mrs Justice McGowan imposed a whole-life order on David Taylor and described the life terms for Fellows and Newell as “new and separate” because both were already serving whole-life orders for earlier killings. The sentence dealt with the prison murder itself, not the separate convictions that had already kept Fellows and Newell in custody for life.
The judge told the defendants, “You chose him as your target as he had been convicted of the murder of a child.” She also said, “Acting together you wounded him more than 25 times, several of those wounds were fatal.”
Kyle Bevan in HMP Wakefield
Bevan was serving a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 28 years for murdering his partner's two-year-old daughter Lola James in Pembrokeshire in 2020. That background explains why he had been in HMP Wakefield when the attack happened, but it did not protect him from the ambush inside his cell.
The court heard the three men emerged less than five minutes later in a “satisfied, job-done mood.” Bevan was then put into bed to give the impression he was asleep, and his death was not detected until the following morning.
Fellows and Newell
Mrs Justice McGowan said Fellows was seen near Bevan's cell twice that evening, “probably to check that he was dead.” She added, “There were congratulations when you returned to your own landing. Word had spread.”
She also said, “Fellows tried to dispose of his bloodstained trousers. All three had blood on your shoes. All of you had killed before.” The court heard Newell had first been jailed for murder in 1989 after strangling his female neighbour, who was in her 50s, after she refused to give him money. He later received a whole-life order in 2013 after killing a prisoner who had murdered a child.
The sentence leaves all three men serving life terms with no release. What the case still does not answer is how they were able to carry out the attack inside HMP Wakefield with makeshift weapons without being stopped.
