A prisoner has told a murder trial of the chilling moment he found a fellow inmate dead in a cell bed having been stabbed at least 190 times.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made the grim discovery after another inmate at HMP Swaleside in Sheppey allegedly told him of disabled Darren Flynn’s brutal fate.

Paul Wadkin was said to have sworn on his grandad’s grave that he was telling the truth when he confessed to the prisoner: “I have got a dead body in my bed.”

The convicted robber and rapist told Maidstone Crown Court his reaction was one of total shock.

“I said to him: ‘What you on about bruv?’. Paul said: ‘I swear on my grandad’s grave. Go and have a look. Stabbed him to death.’.”

The court heard the prisoner went to Wadkin’s cell on F wing at the category B jail in Eastchurch.

At first he peered through the door flap but the cell was too dark for him to see anything other than a chair on the bed and two pillows placed against its legs.

The prisoner then put his head around the door for a better look. “That’s when I saw my friend Darren Flynn was lying face down.

“The chair and the pillow were covering his head. The way the pillows had been set up it was so when you looked from the door you couldn’t see.”

Giving evidence to the court from prison via a TV link, the inmate said he could not see any blood and described Mr Flynn as looking peaceful.

“There was no visible injury when I looked in. All I noticed was that his head was swollen.”

Asked whether he spoke to Mr Flynn, the man replied: “No, because I knew he was dead.”

He told the jury of seven men and five women he then closed the door, ran to his own cell and put on several items of clothing, including a woolly hat.

Questioned by prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC as to why, the serving prisoner said: “I felt a shiver of cold going through my body. Not from what I saw but the chilling comments Paul had said without any emotion.

“That frightened me and put a chill through my body.”

Wadkin, 33, of no fixed address, denies murdering Mr Flynn on March 25. A second inmate, Jason Gomez, 45, also of no fixed address, has admitted the same charge and awaits sentence.

During the trial the court has heard that Gomez was already behind bars for murder when he fatally stabbed Mr Flynn, who walked with a crutch and was also a self-harmer.

Most of the 46-year-old's wounds were to his chest and neck, and inflicted with severe force. The injuries were also said to indicate that Mr Flynn was held down during the attack.

Staff at the prison discovered his body after Wadkin and Gomez are alleged to have confessed to several officers.

The court heard Wadkin told one: “Just murdered a pervert.”

It was also alleged that in the days before Mr Flynn’s murder, Wadkin showed the same prisoner a sharp-pointed instrument measuring about 16cm in length and resembling a screwdriver.

It also had a piece of string attached to the handle.

He told the court Wadkin said it was to ensure that whoever the crude weapon was used upon, they could not take it off their attacker.

The prisoner added the tip was very sharp.

“I said: ‘This looks very dangerous and you could really hurt someone with it.’ His response was one of a shrugged shoulder to suggest he didn’t care and he said: ‘So what?’ If anyone comes to us we can take their heads off’.”

A few days before he died, Mr Flynn was also said to have been branded a paedophile, a grass and a “dead man walking” by Gomez.

"Just murdered a pervert" - allegedly said by Wadkin

The prisoner added that Wadkin’s view was that “all paedophiles were better off dead”.

The court heard both he and Wadkin were serving indeterminate sentences whereby their release is not automatic but has to be decided by the parole board.

However, he denied when cross-examined by Wadkin’s defence counsel that he was giving evidence to influence his chances of release.

“The only good thing I want from giving evidence is justice for my friend and his family,” he maintained.

“I don’t believe giving evidence in this court would in any way help me get out any sooner. I don’t believe in it and I don’t want it.”

The trial continues.