Colin Pitchfork: justice secretary attempts to halt killer’s release

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has asked the Parole Board to reconsider a decision to allow child killer Colin Pitchfork to be released from prison.

Pitchfork was jailed for life in 1988 after admitting to raping and strangling 15-year-old Lecistershire schoolgirls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. But he could now be freed after serving a total of 35 years for crimes that “sent shockwaves around the UK”, said the Daily Mail.

Now aged 63, the killer was previously released in 2021, but was sent back two months later for breaching the licence conditions. He was granted parole again last month following a hearing held in private at which the Parole Board concluded that the decision to recall him was “flawed” as it was based on “unproven allegations”, The Times reported.

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Calling for a rethink, Chalk said it was important that “every lawful step is taken to keep dangerous offenders behind bars”.

The intervention came after a Ministry of Justice source described the Parole Board decision as “extremely worrying”, according to the Mail.

Pitchfork will remain in prison while the case is reconsidered. He was the first murderer to be convicted using DNA evidence, after thousands of men were asked to “volunteer blood or saliva samples”, said Sky News.

After being caught, Pitchfork “initially claimed that he strangled the women to protect his identity”, said the Mail, but Crown Prosecution Service concluded he was motivated by “perverted sadism”.