Prisoners charged with murder of child killer in jail

A West Yorkshire Police handout photo of Subhan Anwar (left) who was jailed in 2009 for torturing and murdering two-year-old Sanam Navsarka (right) (West Yorkshire Police/PA Wire)

Two prisoners have been charged with murder after the death of a child killer in jail.

West Mercia Police said the men, aged 47 and 45, were charged after the body of Subhan Anwar, 25, was found by prison officers at Long Lartin prison near Evesham, in Worcestershire on Thursday evening.

The two men were arrested at the scene and taken into police custody, and were charged late last night.

They will appear at Worcester Magistrates' Court today.

Anwar was serving a minimum term of 23 years in prison for the torture and murder of a two-year-old girl in 2009.

He was jailed for the killing of his partner's daughter Sanam Navsarka, who suffered 107 injuries at his hands during weeks of torture.

His partner and the young girl's mother, Zahbeena Navsarka was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Anwar and Navsarka, both from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, tried to claim Sanam had stopped breathing after they left her alone in the bath for 10 minutes.

However, her tiny hand prints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards at the couple's home in Huddersfield and at a former property in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Anwar also put the helpless girl in a tumble dryer, and dumped her in the bin as her mother looked on.

Sentencing the couple in 2009, Judge Peter Thornton QC condemned their cruel and selfish treatment of Sanam and added that "humanity had let her down".

PA