Stewart was convicted of Mr Mubarek's murder

Patrick O'Connor QC, representing the family, said Stewart had a cross and RIP tattooed on his forehead and it was obvious to everyone that he was a dangerous racist.

There was also a Ku-Klux-Klan sign displayed on the notice board of the cell Stewart shared with Mr Mubarek at the London institution.

Mr O'Connor said: "What they cannot for the life of them understand is how on earth Zahid Mubarek was ever allocated to share a cell with this monster.

"It defies rational analysis, and the Butt Report (the result of an internal Prison Service inquiry) for all its substance has utterly failed to provide any explanation for it."

Public inquiry

Mr O'Connor was appearing on behalf of Mr Mubarek's uncle, Imtiaz Amin, of Walthamstow, east London,

Mr O'Connnor is asking Mr Justice Hooper for a judicial review and to overturn what he calls the Home Secretary's "irrational and perverse" refusal to set up the inquiry.

Mr Amin has also attacked the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) for the way it proposed to conduct its investigation into accusations of racism in Britain's jails.

The CRE is refusing the family the right to be legally represented during the investigation so they could cross-examine prison officers and other witnesses.

Full facts

The family also want to find out how Mr Mubarek's requests to be moved from the cell were dealt with and the extent of knowledge the prison authorities and prison officers had about Stewart.

Mr O'Connor is arguing that under the European Convention on Human Rights the Home Secretary is obliged to provide "an effective investigation" into the circumstances of the death.

He said that due to the shortcomings of the internal Prison Service inquiry and the limitations of both the inquest and the proposed CRE investigation only a fresh, independent inquiry can fulfil that task.

Mr O'Connor said that without such an inquiry the family would never learn the full facts behind Mr Mubarek's death.