Convicted Telford murderer sentenced for prison brawl but told he won’t serve more time
Ronnie Bevan, aged 19, is serving a life sentence for the murder of 26-year-old Peter Cairns
A convicted murderer serving a life sentence for the killing of a Telford man in 2021, has been sentenced after admitting being part of a brawl in a prison corridor.
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Ronnie Bevan, aged 19, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 13 years following the murder of 26-year-old Peter Cairns in 2021.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard on Friday that Bevan, originally from Telford, and another defendant, McKenzie Hutchins, also 19 and who was also serving a lengthy term at Stoke Heath Prison in Market Drayton, were involved in a fight with another convict at the prison on September 18 last year.
Ms Rosemary Proctor, prosecuting, told the court that the pair were walking up a corridor in the prison when a third prisoner walked out of the education block and “the three began fighting”.
She said Hutchins had an “improvised weapon” on him, which was believed to be “melted shoelaces wrapped around something” that had caused puncture wounds to the man’s head.
The court was played CCTV footage of the prison brawl, which lasted several minutes until prison officers broke it up.
Ms Proctor said that both Hutchins and Bevan had been involved in a previous incidence of violence while in the prison system while at HM Werrington Young Offenders' Institution on August 22, 2024.
Bevan also made an appearance at the magistrates court earlier this month after being found with an illegal mobile phone in Stoke Heath Prison.
In defence, mitigating barristers for both Bevan and Hutchins claimed the third prisoner had started the fight by “going for” Hutchins, and they told Judge Anthony Lowe that prisoners carrying weapons for self defence “was common within institutions such as this” and not indicative of a planned attack.
Judge Lowe told both men, who both pleaded guilty to a single charge of affray, that while their victim may have started the fight “he certainly did not finish it”, adding that they were both lucky not to have been charged with an assault.
“When you are serving lengthy prison sentences, tensions will arise,” he told the pair.
He sentenced both teenagers to 12 months in jail, but added that the sentence would not be consecutive so would not be added to their existing prison terms.
However the judge warned both defendants that acts of violence “would have an effect on the parole board”.