21 January 2023 , 19:11
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A racist who murdered his Asian cellmate with a table leg is making a bid for freedom after 23 years.
Robert Stewart was 20 when he was sentenced to life for bludgeoning Zahid Mubarek, 19, to death as he slept in 2000.
Despite two earlier bids for a switch to an open prison being blocked, a third parole hearing in summer may free him.
A source said: “For everyone’s sake the Parole Board must get this one right. We must be sure he is no longer a danger.”
Stewart attacked Zahid at Feltham Young Offenders Institution in West London then daubed a swastika on the cell wall in blood.
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Zahid had stolen from a shop (Photonews Service Old Bailey)
Mum Sajida attended the inquiry (PA)His victim was serving 90 days for stealing £6 of goods from a supermarket and was due to be released that morning.
Stewart was jailed for a minimum 17 years and six months by Mr Justice Grigson, who told him: “As you are a danger to yourself and to the public, custody for life is wholly appropriate.”
A public inquiry attended by Zahid’s mum Sajida found the jail was “institutionally racist” and Mubarek had been made to share a cell with Stewart despite the thug’s outspoken racism.
Ex-prison governor Ian Acheson said the Parole Board would be “risk averse” due to the “notorious nature” of Stewart’s crime and following previous mistakes such as the aborted release in 2018 of serial rapist John Worboys.
The Board said: “Decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public.”