Hitman dubbed ‘The Executioner’ who gunned down millionaire car dealer walking his dog in 1994 for £100,000 is revealed as Johnny Mercer’s cellmate in Banged Up Britain

• Kevin Lane, 55, gave MP Johnny Mercer a taste of prison life in C4’s Banged Up
• Lane was convicted of 1994 killing of Robert Magee, which he has always denied 

A man dubbed ‘The Executioner’ who was convicted of shooting dead a millionaire car dealer in 1994 for £100,000 has been revealed as Johnny Mercer’s cellmate in Channel 4’s Banged Up. 

Kevin Lane, 55, left Mercer open-mouthed as he demonstrated how prisoners smuggle contraband into jail – by expelling tobacco from his anus.

He took the Tory MP’s swearing in good humour and even joked he’d ‘get him in trouble’ when he smashed several window panes for some fresh air.

Beyond his tongue-in-cheek description of prison life, Lane has spent 24 years as a prisoner for various crimes, including a murder which he insists he did not commit.

He was handed a life sentence in 2005 over the killing of car dealership salesman Robert Magee in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.

Kevin Lane, 55, who was handed a life sentence over the shooting of car dealership owner Robert Magee in 1994, is Johnny Mercer’s cellmate in C4’s Banged Up

Lane left Mercer horrified as he demonstrated how prisoners smuggle contraband into jail – by expelling tobacco from his anus

Beyond his tongue-in-cheek description of prison life, Lane has spent 24 years as a prisoner for various crimes – including a murder which he insists he did not commit

READ MORE: CHANNEL 4’S ‘BANGED UP’ IS JUST A SHABBY EXCUSE TO TORMENT CELEBS, WRITES CHRISTOPHER STEVENS 

Magee, who was said to be involved in protection rackets, was shot dead by assailants in 1994 while out walking his dog and witnesses described seeing two masked men fleeing the scene in a red BMW.

The alleged vehicle was tracked down by police and a palm print matching Lane’s was found in a bin-liner in the boot. 

After a previous trial failed to result in a conviction, Lane faced another trial in 2005 and was convicted on a majority verdict of killing Magee. 

Lane – who maintains he did not commit the murder – was released from prison in January in 2015 after having spent 18 years of a life sentence behind bars, and later that year he lost an appeal challenging the safety of the murder conviction at the Court of Appeal in London.

In 2020, he was recalled to prison after an assault arrest.

Now free, Lane insists he was set up for the crime and in 2021 published his book Fitted Up And Fighting Back, in which he contested the evidence used in his conviction.

He claimed the BMW said to be the getaway vehicle was in fact his family car and had his son’s fingerprints on it. He wrote: ‘Wouldn’t it be simply unbelievable that I’d choose a car I had been driving my family about in just a few days before?’

Lane relates the story of Roger Vincent and David Smith, who were jailed for life in 2005 over the murder of suspected police informer David King in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

He also shared his suspicions of investigating officer DS Chris Spackman, who was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2003 for attempting to steal £160,000 from Hertfordshire Police. 

Now free, Lane insists he was set up for the crimes and in 2021 published his book Fitted Up And Fighting Back, in which he contests the evidence used in his conviction

In Channel 4’s Banged Up, Mercer finds himself sharing a cell at the former HMP Shrewsbury site alongside Lane, who volunteered to act as one of the jailbirds along other former inmates.

As the pair begin talking, Lane asks Mercer if he smokes, to which he replies ‘yes’.

The mood turns ominous as Lane says: ‘Right would you like a cigarette?’

A narrator then tells viewers that smoking tobacco was banned in UK prisons in 2018 and is now a valuable contraband, costing £1,000 per ounce.

Lane says: ‘Right, so what I will do now, and it won’t be a long process…’

Lane then explains to the camera that ‘chugg-blocking’ is a common tactic employed by prisoners to smuggle in contraband.

Mercer watches with horror as Lane bends over and with a few stifled grunts, retrieves the illicit pack of cigarettes from his rectum.

The mood turns ominous as Lane asks Mercer: ‘Right would you like a cigarette?’

Johnny Mercer’s horror as another inmate on C4’s Banged Up retrieves cigarettes from his rectum

‘Don’t mate, I don’t think I can cope,’ Mercer says.

Lane appears unmoved by the criticism as he wipes the packet and reveals the cigarettes.

Mercer then swears about the stench and smashes several window panes of the cell.

Reflecting on the incident afterwards, Mercer says to the camera: ‘What the f*** just happened?

‘If you turn up like me, your average Joe, and you don’t know much about prison and how it works, you begin to learn these tricks to survive. 

‘Like smuggling in phones and tobacco. It just becomes a kind of university of crime.

‘You become like prisoners. I didn’t have to smash a window, I didn’t have to smoke. I could have told him to f*** off. 

‘It’s kind of what you do to get by, and I think that’s what prison is. Just getting by.’

In another segment on the show, Mercer opened up about his own battles with obsessive compulsive disorder – telling the camera: ‘I had OCD from when I was a boy actually, it’s pretty much a coping mechanism for a pretty chaotic childhood and then as you get older it sort of really flares up in periods of stress.

‘If it gets really bad, it can lead to bouts of depression. I like fresh air and I spend a lot of time on the loo making sure my backside is clean.’

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