Expert Guides

Expert guide on the first phase of the Mubarek inquiry

Zahid Mubarek

The first phase of the public inquiry into the murder of Zahid Mubarek by his racist cellmate Robert Stewart at Feltham Young Offender Institution ended on March 18 2005.

Since it began in November 2004, the inquiry chairperson Mr Justice Keith heard from 62 oral witnesses, received 143 witness statements and considered a more than 15,000 pages of documentary evidence.

Maria Ahmed examines the evidence from the first phase.

Background

Zahid Mubarek, 19, a first-time offender, was sent to Feltham YOI in January 2000 for theft and interfering with a motor vehicle. He was just two days from release when he was battered to death with a table leg by his cellmate Robert Stewart, then also 19, at Feltham YOI in March 2000.

Stewart had 18 separate convictions for 71 offences and had served a number of sentences at different custodial establishments. He was transferred from Hindley YOI in Yorkshire to Feltham for court appearances in London in January 2000 and placed in a cell with Mubarek in February.

On 1 November 2000, Stewart was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
A police investigation and an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality followed the killing.

However, the Mubarek family felt neither investigation answered why their son had been placed in the cell with Stewart and won a public inquiry following a four-year battle with the Home Secretary.

Phase one – the big issues

Robert Stewart (picture: empics)

MENTAL HEALTH

The debate around the mental health of Robert Stewart and his treatment by professionals has been divided between those who believed Stewart should have received a psychiatric referral and those who did not.

Stewart’s diagnosis of a ‘long-standing, deep-seated personality disorder,’ has also come under scrutiny, and the availability of mental health services for prisoners at the time of Mubarek’s murder has been examined.

Christopher Kinealy, a psychiatric nurse who met Stewart at Altcourse prison four months before the murder admitted he made a "serious" mistake in claiming Stewart had an "untreatable" personality disorder.

The inquiry heard that Kinealy had recommended “no further action” following his assessment of Stewart.

Kinealy pointed out to the inquiry that Stewart, who is now at Woodhill Prison, had still not been transferred to a psychiatric unit.

Dr Andrew Greenwood, a doctor at Hindley YOI argued that Stewart had “full insight” into his activities and behaviour, and did not believe he was suffering from a mental illness.

Professor John Gunn, former chair of forensic psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, was commissioned to write a report for the inquiry to help assess the way in which Stewart was dealt with at Hindley YOI prior to killing Mubarek at Feltham YOI.

He stated that Stewart should have been referred to a psychiatrist as a result of his behaviour, and said an assessment may have prevented Stewart from being placed in a cell with Mubarek.

RACISM

Writing found on the wall of the cell that Mubarek shared          with Stewart.

The inquiry has heard of a number of racially motivated incidents that occurred at Feltham between both staff and residents, and how a culture of racism operated at Feltham compounded by a lack of race relations training and awareness.

Nicholas Pascoe, a former Feltham governor told the inquiry of a case where prison staff at Feltham handcuffed an inmate from an ethnic minority background to cell bars and smeared black boot polish on his buttocks.

Three members of staff were given a final written warning, but were not prosecuted after a critical witness failed to appear and their defence of “horseplay” was accepted by the court.

The prison officers were still working at Feltham two years later when Mubarek was beaten to death by Stewart.

Michael Cowan, head of operations at Feltham, described how staff "visibly shut down" when they attended race relations training.

Robert Stewart admitted to the inquiry for the first time that racial prejudice had played a part in his murder of Mubarek.

Maqsood Ahmed, a Prison Service advisor, told the inquiry that an Asian prisoner was brutally assaulted by two white inmates at Feltham but staff did not refer him to hospital until 24 hours later, just two months before Mubarek’s death.

Judy Clements, a prison race equality advisor said she heard “disturbing” allegations of serious violence against black and ethnic minority prisoners and said prison staff and management were in “complete denial” of issues relating to racism in a number of institutions.

A report by Hounslow Racial Equality Council given to the inquiry revealed that officers at Feltham routinely called black and Asian inmates “monkeys” and “black bastards” and told “they should be sent back to their own country”.

THE ‘GLADIATOR’ ALLEGATIONS

Mr Justice Keith - chair

Allegations that prison officers at Feltham deliberately placed Mubarek and Stewart in the same cell as part of a ‘Gladiator’ game to set black and white inmates against each other were put to the inquiry in a storm of media attention.

Duncan Keys, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, claimed that Mubarek was battered to death by Stewart after they were placed together in a game created for the “perverted pleasure” of prison officers.

He named Nigel Herring, the then branch chair of the POA at Feltham as the instigator of the game.

Keys said the allegations had come to his attention following a conversation with a member of the prison officer’s National Executive Committee, Tom Robson.

Keys alleged that Robson had a conversation with Herring where the game was mentioned and Herring reportedly found it “funny.”

However, Robson told the inquiry he could not recall the conversation, and Keys admitted he had no direct evidence about the allegations.

Nigel Herring dismissed the allegations as a “malicious” smear campaign and described them as a “fairy tale.”

He said "rumours" of the game had surfaced during a period of "bad feeling" between the Feltham POA and the POA National Executive Committee last year.

STAFF CULTURE AND CONDUCT

The inquiry has heard evidence of low morale, a “desensitised” culture and a number of staff failures to carry out duties at Feltham in the time leading up to and after the murder. There has also been evidence of industrial conflicts between the prison officer’s union and the management at Feltham.

Michael Cowan, head of operations at Feltham, said a culture of “defeatism” was rife at Feltham at the time of Mubarek’s death.

David Comber, principal officer in charge of Feltham’s security department, admitted that eight night patrol sheets and locking up reports from the night of Mubarek’s murder had gone missing. Cowan admitted that it was "possible" that officers had allegedly "taken a handful" of the night patrol records to cover up for a missing record from Mubarek's unit.

Niall Clifford, governor of Feltham at the time of the killing, said that prison officers had “fabricated” prison records, and claimed staff had been “lazy” in failing to record “exactly what was occurring” in the prison.

Clive Welsh, a former Feltham governor, told the inquiry that up to five staff at Feltham Young Offender Institution were suspended "at any one time" for alleged assaults on inmates in the period preceding Zahid Mubarek's death.

Sundeep Chahal, a prison officer, admitted that he had had failed to spot a broken table leg which Stewart used to kill Mubarek. He said he had carried out a cell search on the morning of the murder but did not notice the faulty table.

TREATMENT OF YOUNG OFFENDERS

Bobby Cummines - adviser to                      the inquiry

The inquiry has heard how former director general of the Prison Service Martin Narey felt his attempts to introduce a ‘decency agenda’ at Feltham were thwarted by a negative working culture.

Niall Clifford, governor of Feltham YOI at the time of Mubarek’s death told the inquiry the approach of staff was “likely at worst, to lead to young prisoner’s self-harming or even killing themselves”.

He said he had been concerned about the “considerable” use of control and restraint on young offenders which was used “more than necessary”.

Clifford also highlighted failings in one unit where there was “no guarantee” that prisoners leaving early or returning late from court would even be fed.

Lucy Bogue, chair of the Independent Monitoring Board described how staff saved lives “on a daily basis” by cutting down boys who were hanging and resuscitating them.

Bogue also told the inquiry that overcrowding had placed “significant” strain on Feltham, with some inmates forced to eat their meals “in close proximity” to toilet bowls in shared cells.

Keith Denman, a principal officer at Feltham said officers acted as though they were working in a “pigsty” with the inmates viewed as “animals”.

What next? Phase two of the inquiry

The second phase of the inquiry will consider recommendations to minimise the risk of attack like the one on Mubarek happening again. This is expected to involve focus groups of ex-offenders and others who have been closely involved in the prison system; visits by the chair, Mr Justice Keith, and his advisers to Feltham and six other prisons; and seminars where possible reforms will be discussed.

Mr Justice Keith will issue his final report later this year.

THE INQUIRY IN QUOTES

"Whenever you went into a cell at Feltham you'd see graffiti like swastikas, the initials KKK and things like 'kill all niggers...' the general perception in Feltham was that all whites were racist, and the black lads didn't like the whites."                                                                               

Keith Greenslade, a staff officer to the governor at Feltham

“A disaster waiting to happen.”                                                               

Michael Potts, a prison officer at Hindley YOI, describing Robert Stewart

"Zahid told me that he had asked to be moved from his cell. He discussed his cell mate. I asked what he was like. Zahid said that he was alright but later said that he was a bit weird. I asked him what he meant and Zahid said that he was always staring at him. Without saying anything. I recall that he mentioned that the cell mate had RIP on his forehead. We laughed it off.”     

Tanzeel  Ahmed, Zahid’s cousin, on a visit to Mubarek before he was killed

“The F2052SH phenomena [inmates deemed at risk of self-harm] began to appear with 10 per cent of the landing dribbling for affection, attention and help!"

Nigel Herring, former branch chair of the Prison Officer’s Association at Feltham writing in prison magazine Gatelodge

“When Zahid was killed…it was more than a wake-up call. I think the question was: could we have been so blind?”

Judy Clements, the first race equality adviser to the Prison Service

“No such practice could survive or be kept secret.”

Nigel Herring, former branch chair of the Prison Officer’s Association at Feltham, on the ‘Gladiator’ allegations

“’What if?’ Those were the two words that haunted me throughout the entire period of time from when I was told…until I am here today, ‘What if?’ ‘What if that were true?’”

Duncan Keys, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officer’s Association, on the ‘Gladiator’ allegations