Three in court over child killer's death in prison

Kyle Bevan was jailed for murdering two-year-old Lola James in 2020

A provisional trial date has been set for three men charged with murdering a child killer at a prison in West Yorkshire.

Kyle Bevan, 33, who had been jailed for life for murdering his partner's two-year-old daughter Lola James in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in 2020, was found dead in his cell at HMP Wakefield on 5 November.

A Leeds Crown Court hearing on Monday was told that Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, 56 and David Taylor, 63, all of HMP Wakefield, were due to enter pleas on 15 December and, if they denied murder, would face trial on 2 June.

His Honour Judge Tom Bayliss KC remanded the men into custody after they each appeared separately over video link from the prison.

Lola's mother, Sinead, was jailed for six years

At Bevan's sentencing hearing in 2023, a court was told that he had inflicted "catastrophic" brain injuries on the toddler in a "brutal" assault in her family home.

Lola was attacked on the night between 16 and 17 July 2020 while she was in the care of Bevan, from Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, and was left with 101 surface injuries on her body.

The judge in Bevan's trial, Mr Justice Martin Griffiths, described his actions as "an assertion of superiority over the only person he could feel superior to – a helpless child".

He was ordered to serve at least 28 years in jail.

Sinead James, Lola's mother, was sentenced to six years for causing or allowing her daughter's death at her home.

Bevan's death came less than a month after paedophile singer Ian Watkins, 48, was stabbed to death at the same prison.

The former Lostprophets frontman died from a stab wound to the neck, an inquest opening heard.

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