Never miss a thing from all parts of our city - sign up for free email alerts Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A rapist who murdered a baby killer he shared a prison cell with has been given a life sentence.

John Westland must serve at least 19 years in prison for stabbing, strangling and suffocating his 22-year-old cellmate Liam Deane.

A jury of seven women and five men took three hours and four minutes on the seventh day of a trial at Leeds Crown Court to unanimously find Westland guilty of murder.

He stabbed Deane with a broken aftershave bottle after less than six weeks of sharing a cell together in HMP Leeds.

LeedsLive can now report that Deane had just started serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years for punching and shaking his two-day-old baby girl Luna to death when she would not stop crying.

And 29-year-old Westland, previously of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, was serving an indeterminate sentence for raping and seriously assaulting a 53-year-old woman after leaving a nightclub in 2008.

Westland was described as an 'isolated' figure, who had unsuccessfully applied for parole three times and had never been visited in prison by his mum - the only member of his family he still had contact with.

Deane's mother Gillian Elliot, who did visit him in prison, said:

"It meant a lot to Liam that I was there for him and had not disowned him.

'I did not like my son for what he had done but I am his mother and I still love him'

Deane, previously of Lupset in Wakefield, was found dead in the pair's shared cell on F wing on November 12 last year.

Sentencing Westland, Judge Rodney Jameson QC said:

"It is a necessary part of civilised society that those convicted of crimes, even of murder, can [serve their sentences] in safety."

Motive

Both men were bullied in the prison.

Deane was receiving death threats from other inmates who had read about his crime in the press and were calling him 'a baby killer’ and telling him he 'deserves to die’.

But the court heard how Deane, who had no other convictions, was also being accused of being a sex offender, with inmates calling him names such as ‘paedophile’ and ‘nonce’.

Westland claimed that the pair got on fine and would smoke spice together regularly, but said that Deane had drug debt in the prison.

The glass bottle of Derrick aftershave was contraband in the prison and seems to have been smuggled into the cell after it was checked on the morning of November 11.

West Yorkshire Police statement Detective Chief Inspector Ian Scott, of West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “Liam Deane was serving a life sentence for the murder of his newborn baby daughter. "It was an appalling crime that tore her family apart and provoked an understandably strong reaction from the community and the wider public. “Despite his conviction for that offence, he and his family were entitled to expect he could serve his time in prison without having his life taken from him in sudden and violent circumstances by his cell-mate John Westland. "Westland has now been convicted of his murder and we hope this will provide some degree of comfort to Liam’s family for the loss they have suffered.”

During the trial, prosecutor Peter Moulson QC directly asked Westland:

'Did you kill him because other people wanted him dead?'

When he asked Westland if there was a price on Deane's head, he replied:

“I’m not sure.”

After the murder, Westland made admissions to police officers such as 'I murdered him because he is a sex offender' and 'well I’ll just say I done it [sic] then'.

And ending a phone call to his mum - the only member of his family he is still in contact with - he told her:

"I’m out in four months, I’m out in four months.

Alright, I’ll see you later, I’ve got to go. It was Liam Deane. I’ve got to go."

But he still pleaded not guilty, claiming in his defence statement that he admitted the murder in a 'humorous' way and later on the witness stand saying that he had been misquoted and said that would have been his reasoning had he actually carried out the act.

Addressing Westland, the judge said: "You told the jury you believed he was a sex offender - he was not."

He said it was unclear whether Westland killed Deane 'for his own satisfaction', to 'curry favour with others' or on the orders of others.

He added that it was 'rank hypocrisy' for rapist Westland to want to kill a sex offender.

Visit our homepage for more of the biggest talking points across Leeds.

LeedsLive has launched a WhatsApp group to help you keep up to date with the latest news. If you'd like to receive one message daily with the main headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07786 313491. Then add the number to your phone contacts book as LeedsLive (case sensitive, no space). Your phone number won't be shared with other members of the group.