A convicted killer from Huddersfield was tied up and strangled in his cell by two fellow inmates who were also serving life sentences for murder, a court has heard.
Gary Smith and Lee Newell made themselves a cup of hot chocolate after using a pair of tracksuit bottoms to throttle Subhan Anwar, a trial at Warwick Crown Court was told.
Smith, 48, and Newell, 44, both deny murdering Anwar at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire on February 14 this year.
Anwar was in prison for the murder of little Sanam Navsarka at Rddings Road in Deighton in May 2008.
The two-year-old daughter of his girlfriend was found to have more than 100 injuries to her body including fractures to all her limbs.
He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years .
Opening the case against both men, prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith said Anwar's body was found after Newell told a prison officer: "He's gone, he's with Allah."
One of the defendants is also alleged to have informed prison security staff that Anwar, whose ankles were bound with tape, had been taken hostage because he was bored.
Claiming CCTV and DNA evidence proved both defendants were involved in the killing on Long Lartin's Delta Wing, the prosecutor alleged they followed Anwar into his cell shortly before 6pm.
The door of the cell was then closed, Mr Grieves-Smith said, and remained shut until prison officers gained access and found Anwar's body at about 8.20pm.
At about 6.40pm, jurors were told, a call was made from an intercom in the cell to the prison's security department.
Mr Grieves-Smith said: "The caller did not identify themself but what he did say was that they had taken a hostage. He said words to the effect that he was bored and it was something to do. He then said 'I'm not joking, I think he is dead'."
Prison staff did not initially know whether the caller was joking, the court heard, and did not seek to force entry to Anwar's cell, instead talking through the door to those inside.
At 7.40pm, the jury heard, a warder looked through an eye-hole in the cell door and saw Anwar, who was motionless, lying face down on his bed.
Mr Grieves-Smith added: "As Mr Newell and Mr Smith waited to be taken from the cell, they made themselves a drink of hot chocolate. They were eventually led from the cell by prison officers and staff found the body of Mr Anwar.
"What was found around his neck was a ligature, a pair of tracksuit bottoms which had been wrapped around his neck, and the ends of the legs pulled until he died."
Both men, who were found in possession of property belonging to Anwar, were subsequently interviewed by police under caution and chose to make no comment.
Addressing the possible motives for the killing, Mr Grieves-Smith told the jury: "There is no eyewitness who can describe what happened in that cell.
"The case against the defendants depends upon drawing together various strands of evidence but the prosecution suggest you will be sure that both are guilty of murder. The prosecution say both went into the cell by design, they had both planned to be there."
Asking jurors to consider whether or not the defendants had planned to take Anwar hostage, the prosecutor said: "Did they go intending to steal but it turned to violence? Did they go there to kill him because of the crime of which he had convicted?
"Only these two defendants can know and they said 'no comment' in interview."
The jury was told that Newell was convicted of murder in 1989. He denies stealing a watch, prayer beads and a metal earring belonging to Anwar.
Smith, who the jury heard was convicted of murder in 1999, has admitted a charge of theft.
Although the court heard Anwar was a convicted murderer, it was given no further information about the crime.
Jurors were told the defendants are likely to "point the finger" at each other, and that Newell will claim Smith was solely responsible for killing Anwar.
In the final section of his opening remarks, Mr Grieves-Smith said the Crown was not required to prove a motive or what each defendant did to Anwar.
"The prosecution say they are both in it together - the prosecution say that to carry out a brutal attack there had to be force of numbers," Mr Grieves-Smith asserted.
"They were not arguing, not full of recriminations but were behaving with friendliness towards each other."
