A racist killer who beat his prison cellmate to death with a table leg then daubed a swastika on the wall in blood has been denied parole. Robert Stewart, 42, originally from Hattersley in Tameside, was jailed for life for the racially motivated murder of 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek at Feltham young offenders institution in West London in March 2000.
Earlier this year, having reportedly changed his name, he applied to the Parole Board for release. But the board decided he was still too dangerous to be set free - or be moved to an open prison.
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The killing was a landmark moment for the prison service. A subsequent public enquiry described the prison system as 'institutionally racist' and outlined 186 'systemic' failures that allowed Zahid, a vulnerable teen who was just hours away from release, to be in a cell with a known racist.
Zahid was convicted of shoplifting a £6 pack of razor blades from a supermarket in January 2000, and was sentenced to serve 90 days at Feltham. But, in the early hours of the morning of his scheduled release, he was attacked.
As Zahid slept, Stewart, a skinhead who had R.I.P. and a cross tattooed on his forehead and had bragged about committing the first murder of the millennium, hit him 11 times with a broken-off table leg. Zahid died a week later in hospital.
Prison guards reported that when they arrived at the cell Stewart had been standing over Zahid covered in blood and holding a table leg. Stewart claimed his cellmate had 'an accident'.
Minutes after the murder Stewart was found sleeping peacefully. On the wall of the cell he was later moved to, Stewart wrote 'just killed me padmate', signed off with a swastika.
Stewart grew on the Langley estate in Middleton, before his family moved to Hattersley in Tameside. A troubled child, aged 10 his teachers described his behaviour as 'disturbed' and advised he needed psychiatric treatment.
His first conviction came in 1993 for criminal damage and arson. His record included 19 separate convictions for 73 offences, including one for actual bodily harm and several assaults.
He was transferred to Feltham from Hindley Prison, Wigan in the months before the murder, having spent the previous five years in custody. Just before he bludgeoned Zahid to death Stewart wrote to a friend: "Cant se it stickin in ere...I'll take extreme measures to get shipped out, kill me pad(cell)mate if I have too, bleach me sheets and pillowcase white + make a Ku Klux Klan outfit + walk out of me pad wiv the flaming crucifix."
It was not the first racist letter Stewart had written and there were references to his racism and violence on file. There was also evidence of his involvement in an earlier killing - of 18-year-old Alan Averill at another prison - before he was placed in the same cell as Zahid.
Stewart denied Zahid's murder, but was convicted in October 2001 following a trial. Passing sentence Mr Justice Grigson told Stewart: "As you are a danger to yourself and a danger to the public, custody for life is wholly appropriate. Asked why he attacked Zahid, Stewart denied the assault was racially motivated, telling the jury: "I don't know, I just felt like it."
A two-and-a-half year inquiry into the murder, ordered after lawyers for Zahid's family argued that the European Convention on Human Rights entitled them to one, heard allegations prison officers set up 'Gladiator' fights between racist and vulnerable inmates and claims that some white officers hurled racist abuse at black inmates.
In June 2006, High Court judge Mr Justice Keith published his damning 724 page report. It castigated the prison service for a 'bewildering catalogue' of failures that led to murder. It told how prison officials missed 15 chances to save Zahid's life and named 19 members of the Prison Service whose failings played a part in creating a situation that led to the killing.
The report could not rule out that Stewart was influenced by watching Romper Stomper, a violent film about neo-Nazis, two days before the murder. It concluded that if Zahid had been white he would not have been murdered.
Recommendations included the ending of enforced cell sharing and it called on the prison service to recognise 'institutional religious intolerance' in order to help combat prejudice against Muslim inmates. Mr Justice Keith also warned that ministers must find extra cash to cope with growing prison numbers.
Speaking in 2015 Zahid's father Mubarek Amin said: "I'm very angry. Why was he allowed to share a cell with this guy, when it was known he was a racist and trouble-maker?"
A spokesman for the Parole Board said: "We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Robert Stewart following an oral hearing....The panel also refused to recommend a move to open prison.
"Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community. A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
"Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing. Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.
"It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.
"Under current legislation he will be eligible for a further review in due course. The date of the next review will be set by the Ministry of Justice."
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