Thursday, October 22, 2026
A prisoner who murdered his cellmate has been sentenced to life imprisonment - and will have to serve a minimum of 34 years.
Shaun Newton (pictured right) compressed the neck of Tony Joynes, 47, in the cell they shared at HMP Garth, Ulnes Walton, near Leyland.
At the time, Newton was serving an 18-year sentence at Garth having been convicted of attempted murder at Snaresbrook Crown Court in 2019.
He had stabbed his roommate four times with a knife while living and working in Romford, Essex, in 2018.
A jury at Preston Crown Court Sessions House was told that Newton and Tony Joynes had been cell mates for around six months and were locked in their cell on Garth’s D wing at 5pm on 12th July 2025 and remained there overnight, with checks carried out by staff at various times.
When staff carried out welfare checks on the wing on the morning of 13th July, they responded to the buzzer being pressed from cell 47.
Newton told them that he thought Tony Joynes was dead.
Staff raised the alarm and CPR was attempted on Tony Joynes but to no avail. He was very sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
It was noticed that Joynes had an abrasion on his neck which had bled, with blood found on the bed sheets near his pillow.
A Home Office postmortem found the case of death to be neck compression.
Lancashire Police’s Force Major Investigation Team launched an investigation, and Newton was arrested at Garth Prison on 22nd July and taken for interview at Blackpool Police Station.
Newton told officers that after being locked down for the night, him and Tony chatted, played Xbox, before he got on to the top bunk around 7.45pm.
He described Tony (pictured below) as being fine, but the following morning found him dead.
In December 2025, Newton was interviewed again by officers at HMP Full Sutton and was charged with murder in March this year.
Middlesbrough-born Newton, 35, was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday (20th October) of murdering Tony Joynes following a seven-day trial.
Returning to the dock to be sentenced today (22nd October), Newton was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Graham Knowles KC.
The judge ordered that Newton serve a minimum tariff of 34 years before he is eligible to apply to the parole board for release.
When passing sentence, Judge Knowles told Newton: "Tony Joynes was 47 when you murdered him.
"He was your fellow prisoner in HMP Garth and he was your own familiar friend. Tony Joynes was a compliant prisoner, he gave no trouble to anyone on the wing.
"You killed him in the night in the cell you shared."
Judge Knowles observed there were plain 'parallels' in the prison murder and the attempted murder in Essex which Newton had previously been convicted of.