Subhan Anwar murder: Inmates jailed for life

Subhan Anwar was strangled to death with his tracksuit trousers, the court heard

Two prisoners have been told they will spend the rest of their lives in jail for strangling a fellow inmate with his tracksuit trousers.

Subhan Anwar, 23, from Huddersfield, was found dead in his cell at HMP Long Lartin, Worcestershire, on 14 February.

He was serving at least 23 years for the murder of his partner's two-year-old daughter.

Gary Smith, 48, and Lee Newell, 44, were both handed whole-life sentences at Warwick Crown Court.

The pair were convicted last week for what the judge described as the "chilling" murder of Anwar.

Newell, originally from Norwich, and Smith, from Leicester, were already serving life sentences for murders committed in 1988 and 1998 respectively.

'Cold-blooded'

They refused to leave the cells at Warwick Crown Court to hear their sentences.

Addressing his remarks to the men despite their absence, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said he believed Anwar did not resist because he thought he was being taken hostage.

"One of the most chilling aspects of this case was the almost complete lack of emotion shown by either of you after the killing," Mr Justice Baker said.

"It is against this background that I have to consider whether the circumstances of this murder are such that it is one of those exceptional cases where its seriousness is of such magnitude so as to require the making of a whole-life order.

"In my judgment they are - you have both murdered others before, on this occasion you did so in a cold-blooded manner, having deliberately lulled your victim into a false sense of security."

Jurors heard that Smith calmly made Newell a cup of hot chocolate during a stand-off with prison staff after Anwar was killed in his cell at the prison, near Evesham.

'Moral code'

The inmates were also convicted of stealing personal items, including prayer beads, a watch and an earring.

Mr Justice Baker said there was "nothing spontaneous" about Anwar's death.

While he said the motive for the murder may never be known, he added: "In the course of the trial the jury heard evidence about the type of moral code which exists within the prison population.

"A code which may be enforced by the use of verbal abuse, physical violence and even, on occasion, death.

"It may be no coincidence that the deceased in this case had been convicted of killing a young child."

Newell and Smith were initially prepared to sit in the dock to hear their sentence but demanded to be taken back to the cells after the judge gave permission for Anwar's parents to sit in the well of the court rather than the public gallery.

Newell was jailed in 1989 for strangling his neighbour, 56-year-old Mary Neal.

Smith was jailed 10 years later, along with another man, for murdering 22-year-old Ali Hassan, whose naked body was thrown into a quarry at Swithland Woods, Leicestershire.