Double child rapist and murderer Colin Pitchfork to have fresh parole hearing

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Double child rapist and murderer Colin Pitchfork will face a fresh parole hearing after efficiently difficult a choice to hold him behind bars, the Parole Board mentioned.

Double child rapist and murderer Colin Pitchfork will face a fresh parole hearing after efficiently difficult a choice to hold him behind bars.

Pitchfork was jailed for all times with a minimal time period of 30 years in 1988, later decreased to 28 years, for raping and strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in 1983 and 1986.

The Parole Board met final yr to determine whether or not he may very well be launched and dominated in December he shouldn’t be freed.

But Pitchfork utilized for the choice to be reconsidered and this has been granted, the Parole Board mentioned on Monday.

It means he’ll face one other parole hearing to determine if he might be free of jail.

In an announcement on Monday, the Parole Board mentioned: “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.

“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. 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. 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.”