Schoolgirl killer Colin Pitchfork could be released immediately, it has been claimed.
Schoolgirl killer Colin Pitchfork could be released immediately, it has been claimed.
A double child murderer will not be placed on the sex offenders register because of a legal loophole, it has emerged.
UK man Colin Pitchfork, 61, who raped and murdered 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in 1983 and 1986, is set to be freed from HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire after serving 33 years in prison.
However, given that his crimes and sentencing were before 1997, he will not be placed on the sex offenders register, which has strict conditions aimed at monitoring offenders and stopping them from reoffending.
Instead, it is understood Pitchfork will be subject to regular meetings with a probation officer, lie detector tests and GPS tagging to stop any unsupervised contact with children.
The Telegraph understands the Ministry of Justice is not looking at closing the loophole to retrospectively place criminals whose crimes predate the 1997 law onto the sex offenders register. It favours placing conditions on those released on a case by case basis.
A government spokesman said: "Our thoughts remain with the families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. Colin Pitchfork will be on licence for life and subject to supervision and conditions far stricter than the sex offenders register. If he breaches these, he faces being sent back to prison."
Dawn's mother, Barbara, also spoke about against her daughter's rapist and murderer, saying he's a dangerous man and took a swipe at the justice system.
"It's absolutely shocking he can do it legally. People need to know who he is and what he has done.
"He is a very dangerous man – he shouldn't be on the streets at all," she told the Mirror.
"He shouldn't be able to hide who he is."
She branded Pitchfork "arrogant" and a "psychopath who thinks he is above it all."
"The public must be protected from him and every safeguard must be put in place," she has warned.
Lynda's sister Sue Gatrick, 55, also hit out, saying: "He could kill again. He could rape again. And he could put someone else through it. It is just not right.
Parents of Lynda Mann, Kath Eastwood and her husband Eddie, in 1983 their daughter aged 15 was found raped and strangled. Photo / Getty
"There should be pictures of how he looks now – because he has changed so much – plastered everywhere. He should have it tattooed on his head that he is a nonce, that he is a danger. Then he should be castrated.
"He cannot change his sexuality. He is not going to change his personality or who he is.
"I just hope another family does not have to go through what we have been through because they decided to release him and if - God forbid – he does it again.
"We thought with all these MPs backing us we thought we were getting somewhere. It is so wrong."
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett also expressed his "deep disappointment" at how the Parole Board refused to reverse its decision, given the "heinous nature of his crimes".
"The least that can now be expected to secure the confidence of the public and place their safety as the key priority on his release, is to place him on the register with all the consequent checks and restrictions which this brings."
The case comes after Adam Stein, who kidnapped, raped and murdered six-year-old Collette Gallacher, was released from prison and also kept off the sex offenders register because of the same loophole.
Collette's family have been campaigning to close the loophole so that other families do not see the killers and sexual abusers of their loved ones released without being on the register.
Schoolgirl killer Colin Pitchfork could be released immediately, it has been claimed.
The Telegraph understands Stein will be on licence for the rest of his life.
Claire Holmes, Collette's sister, has been campaigning against Stein's release alongside her sister Lauren, saying: "When we found out, your brain starts thinking how many other people are out there that have just slipped back into normality? Or those that haven't had the fight in them that we have to push for these extra stipulations.
"It is quite a scary loophole in the law that we've kind of stumbled across. How many other people have been affected and not not come forward?"
It is thought that the same conditions would apply to Timothy Morss and Brett Tyler, who killed and sexually assaulted nine-year-old Daniel Handley in 1994, if they were to be released.
