‘Lost’ interview tapes resurface to cast fresh light on Mubarek murder

‘Lost’ interview tapes resurface to cast fresh light on Mubarek
murder Interview tapes that could hold “valuable” new information
on the murder of young offender Zahid Mubarek have been given to
the public inquiry into his death.

Tapes that allegedly went missing during the Commission for
Racial Equality’s investigation from 2000 to 2003 were passed to
the inquiry last week by the office of Imran Khan, solicitor to the
Mubarek family.

The law prevents the inquiry from listening to the tapes without
permission from the witnesses interviewed, so the tapes have been
returned to the CRE for verification.

It is believed the 53 tapes were sent anonymously.

The inquiry is in the final stages of examining how Mubarek, 19,
came to be murdered in Feltham Young Offender Institution in 2000
by his racist cellmate Robert Stewart, then also 19.

At the time of the CRE investigation, it was alleged that the
publication of its final report in 2003 was delayed because around
60 interview tapes had gone missing before transcripts of evidence
could be made.

It is thought the interviews had to be reconstructed using notes
taken at the time, but the CRE refused to comment on the
allegations.

The CRE has not yet been able to confirm whether the tapes are
genuine, but has asked police to investigate their
“disappearance”.

Suresh Grover, a spokesperson for the Mubarek family said they
“no longer had confidence” in the CRE, and that they wanted the
transcripts to be aired in the public inquiry.

He said: “The emergence of the tapes raises central questions
regarding the competence of the CRE investigation. What was their
report based on if it was not based on proper evidence?” He also
questioned whether the CRE had other documentation in its
possession that had not been declared.

A spokesperson for the Zahid Mubarek Inquiry said: “If we find
out that these tapes do indeed contain new information relating to
our investigation we will ask the CRE to approach the informants
without delay, to request their consent for us to listen to the
interviews.”

Meanwhile, a seminar run by the Mubarek inquiry last week heard
that young offenders are being held in YOI-designated cells within
adult prisons.

The inquiry’s chair, Mr Justice Keith, said he had witnessed
young offenders being held on an adult wing at Altcourse prison,
near Liverpool.

Young offenders aged 18 to 21 should be moved to a YOI within
two weeks of sentencing, but the prison service’s director of
operations, Michael Spurr, admitted this had “always created
difficulty”.

He told the inquiry that what happened at Altcourse was not
unique and that a wing or even individual cells in an adult prison
could be designated as a YOI.