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Killer Mark Towell shows paintings in London gallery

Nov 22 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A painting by convicted murderer Mark Towell

A MURDER victim’s partner has hit out after a painting by his killer went on show at a national gallery.

Twisted Mark Towell was ordered to spend a minimum of 15 years behind bars for murdering Lenny Leak, a care assistant whom he doused with petrol and set alight after a row in a Gateshead alley.

But while serving his sentence at Frankland Prison in Durham, the murderer has turned to art and one of his paintings has been displayed at the Royal Festival Hall in London’s South Bank Centre. And he could make money if it sells.

The picture – A Stroll in the Park – is commended in the oil or acrylic category of the Koestler Awards.

Scores more inmates from North prisons have also been listed among the winners in over 50 categories.

The annual competition is run by the Koestler Trust, the UK’s prison arts charity and Towell’s painting will be on show until December 6 at the exhibition.

Tim Robertson, chief executive of the Koestler Trust, said: “They are giving those of us outside prison an unprecedented insight into custody, creativity and gender.”

Towell, 34, was jailed in 2002 for Lenny Leak’s murder. During his trial, the jury heard how he deliberately soaked Mr Leak, 49, with petrol before setting him alight and leaving him to burn to death in the back yard of a derelict house.

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