Double child killer Colin Pitchfork to have fresh parole hearing

12 February 2024 , 14:12

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Colin Pitchfork has requested for his release to be reconsidered (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

Double child killer Colin Pitchfork will have a fresh parole hearing after whining that he was not given a fair bid for release.

Pitchfork, 63, was jailed for life for raping and strangling two 15-year-old girls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986. After being released and then recalled in 2021, Pitchfork was again granted parole in June, but this decision was challenged by ministers. And during a subsequent hearing in December the Parole Board decided against releasing Pitchfork.

Now - after he complained that the hearing did not take comments from his offender manager into account - parole chiefs have been ordered to give him a fresh hearing. A spokesman for the Parole Board said: "The decision refusing Mr Pitchfork’s release was eligible for reconsideration under the Parole Board rules.

"This meant that the panel’s decision was provisional and that either Mr Pitchfork or the Secretary of State could make an application for reconsideration on the grounds that the decision not to release Mr Pitchfork had been irrational, procedurally unfair and/or there had been an error of law.

Rebecca Eastwood pictured holding a photograph of her murdered sister Lynda Mann (Julian Hamilton/Sunday Mirror)

"Mr Pitchfork made an application for reconsideration in December 2023 and this was considered and granted by a reconsideration member of the Parole Board in February 2024. The reason the reconsideration application was granted was that the oral hearing panel in 2023 had a duty to take the Prison Offender Manager’s recommendation into account and to give adequate reasons for any disagreement with that recommendation.

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"The reconsideration member concluded that the panel’s reasoned decision did not do so. The reconsideration member directed that Mr Pitchfork’s case must now be reheard by a fresh panel of three Parole Board members. This panel will complete its own review of Mr Pitchfork’s case, including hearing oral evidence and will decide whether he meets the legal test for release.

Dawn Ashworth was brutally killed in July 1986 (Mirrorpix)

"The reconsideration member advised the new panel that the fact that this is a reconsideration should not in any way affect their decision. It is a complete re-hearing. Release can only be directed by the Parole Board if the new panel is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that Mr Pitchfork remain confined in prison. Mr Pitchfork has, and will continue to, remain in prison until this case has fully concluded."

Pitchfork was the first murderer to be convicted using DNA evidence. He was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in 1988, but this was later reduced to 28 years for good behaviour. When Pitchfork was originally deemed suitable for release in 2021, he had served 33 years. The decision to keep him in prison, announced on Thursday, is provisional for 21 days - during which time Pitchfork can appeal.

Dan Warburton