29/06/2006

Racist murder 'was preventable'

The murder of an Asian prisoner by a racist cellmate could have been prevented, a report has suggested.

The report, by High Court judge Mr Justice Keith, named 19 individuals in the prison service, including the then governor, for failings which led to the death of 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek.

Mr Mubarek, who was serving a 90-day sentence, was battered to death with a table leg in his cell at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution.

He had been placed in a cell with Robert Stewart, despite the fact that Stewart had a record for violence and racism and recorded concern that he was a mental health risk.

Stewart is now serving a life sentence for Mr Mubarek's murder.

The report said that Stewart should have been identified as a risk and said that staff had missed 15 opportunities to save Mr Mubarek's life.

The report made nearly 90 recommendations for improvement, including the elimination of enforced cell sharing.

The judge also warned that ministers would need to find extra cash to deal with growing prison numbers.

Home Secretary John Reid said that the government agreed with 50 of the inquiry's recommendations - at least in principle - and would consider the others "urgently and carefully".

(KMcA/GB)

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