Inmate Lee Foye guilty of prison murder jailed for 35 years

Lee Foye told a psychiatrist he wanted to eat Robert Coello's brain

An inmate who beat a sex offender to death in prison has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years after being convicted of murder.

Lee Foye, 26, stamped on Robert Coello, 44, so hard at HM Prison Grendon, Buckinghamshire, that the tread of his shoes could be seen on Coello's body.

Luton Crown Court heard Foye despised the serial child sex offender.

After convicting Foye the jury was told he was serving life for murdering a former lover in front of her son.

Judge Richard Foster said Foye's jail sentence would run concurrently to the 16-year sentence he is serving for his first murder.

Inquiry call

It means Foye cannot even be considered for parole until he is aged 61.

Jailing him at Luton Crown Court the judge said: "It was a callous, premeditated murder of a helpless victim."

Judge Foster said Foye had "manipulated the prison authorities to facilitate" his move to Grendon saying he had chosen Coello as his victim "perhaps because he had been vocal about his own offending."

The judge said: "I hope there will be a full inquiry into how appropriate it was for Lee Foye to be kept at HMP Grendon."

The court heard Coello, of Whitley, Reading, was attacked after he upset prisoners with graphic details of his crimes.

He had been placed in a wing with prisoners who were not sex offenders because the prison was so full and under its regime had been encouraged to talk about his feelings with other inmates, the court heard.

Foye carried out a ferocious attack on Coello after going into his cell and locking the door behind him.

Foye, who had boycotted the trial and was not present for the verdict, cut off both his ears in Woodhill Prison, Milton Keynes, while waiting for the case to come to court.

His defence had argued he should be convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Toddler's cries

Two women jurors cried when the prosecution revealed Foye's previous victim, Lauren Strachan, 19, of Corby, suffered 47 different stab wounds and 28 other injuries in August 2005.

Foye, then 20, was living with another woman at the time and is believed to have gone to Ms Strachan for sex and then killed her when she threatened to tell his girlfriend.

Her body was found the following morning when neighbours heard the cries of her two-year-old son.

Patrick Mandikate, the prison's head of psychotherapy, admitted he was "uneasy" with the decision to place Coello on G Wing last year.

He said: "It was made clear to me in no uncertain terms that we needed to fill these beds no matter who was available."