Convicted ‘hit man’ who shared cell with Johnny Mercer moved prisons after ‘fight’ with rival | UK | News

A convicted ‘hit man’ who shared a cell with Tory MP Johnny Mercer in the Channel 4 program Banged Up, which simulated prison life, has had to be moved to prison because of a ‘fight’ since being recalled, it has been revealed turned out.

In February, Express.co.uk exclusively revealed that Kevin Lane had been recalled to prison that month for an unspecified “breach of his license conditions”.

It was less than four months after he appeared in the series with Mr Mercer which simulated prison life.

Mr Lane was released from prison after serving 20 years for the murder of Robert Magill in 1994.

He has always maintained his innocence and the case was the subject of a BBC Panorama documentary in 2015, the same year he was released and lost an appeal against his conviction at the Court of Appeal.

Mr Lane published the book Fitted up and Fighting Back in 2020, the same year he was returned to prison on a common assault charge and later released.

For the past two decades, Mr Lane, 56, has maintained that Roger Vincent and Dave Smith, both 52, were the hitmen who killed Mr Magill.

It has now emerged that after being recalled earlier this year, Mr Lane was placed in the same prison as Vincent despite their differences, and that a fight took place in early July, which police are now investigating.

The Facebook page of Fitted up and fight back, which is a campaign aimed at overturning Mr Lane’s murder conviction, said at the time: ‘Kevin is in segregation, there was an altercation today, he is doing well but he will soon be sent away again, where? Follow as soon as we know.”

Supporters of Lane said on social media that the two should never have been placed in the same prison.

But according to a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) source, no order had been issued to ensure they were in separate prisons, despite their problems being known and claims to the contrary.

The source said: “This has now been implemented and they are no longer in the same prison.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Violence will not be tolerated in prisons and anyone found responsible will be punished.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further while police investigate.”

Mr Magill was shot dead in Hertfordshire in 1994.

Witnesses saw two masked men fleeing in a red BMW, which was later traced and one of Mr Lane’s palm prints was found on a rubbish bag in the boot.

Yet in gangland circles the names of two men, Vincent and Smith, were discussed as responsible.

In 1995, Vincent and Mr Lane were charged with Magill’s murder. The first jury was unable to reach a verdict, but at the subsequent trial later that year, Vincent was acquitted and Mr Lane was convicted of the murder.

Ten years after his murder conviction, in 2005, Vincent and Dave Smith were convicted of another execution in a gang area that was remarkably similar to Mr Magill’s.

David King, 32, was hit by five bullets from an AK-47 assault rifle as he emerged from a gym in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, in October 2003.

In August 2005, Vincent was convicted of murder as a gunman and was told he would serve a life sentence of at least 30 years after being unanimously convicted at Luton District Court.

Smith was convicted of murdering his driver and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years.

Vincent and Smith deny any involvement in Magill’s murder and Mr Lane continues to try to clear his name and is still on appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

It is not clear why Mr Lane was recalled to prison in February, but supporters have said online that this did not lead to further action, but he was still not released before the fight with Vincent.

Mr. Lane was scheduled to hold a “true crime” meet and greet event at the Cambridge Country Club on Friday after being recalled.

Friday’s scheduled show, An Evening with Kevin Lane, was an opportunity for true crime enthusiasts to question him about his time in prison.

A report on the event appeared in The Guardian on Monday morning.

He also appeared in a number of YouTube video interviews in the two weeks before his recall, including one with Tommy Robinson published on Sunday and another with YouTuber Shaun Attwood, who was due to host Friday’s event on Monday.

During the videos, he talked about his history of kidnapping people as a “vigilante” and his regret in one instance, where he took the wrong person and seriously hurt him.

Viewers of Banged Up last year saw a shocked Mr Mercer watching as Mr Lane showed him how to hide contraband in prisons.