A double child killer who was the first murderer to be convicted using DNA evidence can be released, the Parole Board has confirmed.
Colin Pitchfork, 61, was jailed for life for raping and murdering 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in the 1980s.
Pitchfork has spent 33 years in prison - he was last denied parole in 2018.
The Parole Board said it was satisfied Pitchfork was suitable for release, which is subject to conditions.
"We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Colin Pitchfork following an oral hearing," a Parole Board spokesman said.
"Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority."
The decision is provisional for 21 days, the spokesman added.
'Immoral, wrong and dangerous'
A source close to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said the government would take legal advice to explore the use of the "reconsideration mechanism".
The Parole Board Reconsideration Mechanism, introduced in 2019, gives people the right to ask for a decision to be looked at again if they believe it was "procedurally unfair" or "irrational".
South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa, who had met with the Parole Board over Pitchfork's case, told the BBC he was "appalled" at the news.
"Even though some 30 years have passed, this isn't the sort of crime one can ever forget," he said.
"My constituents remember the victims, people who went to school with these victims. It's immoral, wrong and dangerous to release this murderer of two children."
Colin Pitchfork: Two brutal murders
- Colin Pitchfork, 22 at the time of the first murder, was married with two sons. He was a baker who grew up in rural Leicestershire and lived in Littlethorpe
- In November 1983 he left his baby son sleeping in the back of his car and raped and strangled 15-year-old Lynda Mann in Narborough. He then drove home and put his son to bed
- Three years later, less than a mile from where Lynda died, he raped and murdered Dawn Ashworth, also 15, of Enderby. The pathologist who examined her body described it as a "brutal sexual assault"
- A police investigation initially led to the wrong man, a local 17-year-old who falsely confessed to one of the killings. After an unprecedented mass screening of 5,000 men using pioneering "DNA profiling" technology, Pitchfork was eventually caught. At first, Pitchfork had evaded justice by persuading a colleague to take the test for him
- He pleaded guilty to both murders in September 1987 and was sentenced to life in January 1988. The judge said the killings were "particularly sadistic" and he doubted Pitchfork would ever be released
- In 2009, his 30-year life tariff was reduced by two years for "exceptional progress" - a decision that was strongly criticised by the families of his victims
- He was moved to an undisclosed open prison at some point prior to 8 January 2017, after his request for release
Speaking to the BBC when Pitchfork was last denied parole, Lynda's mother Kath Eastwood said: "The Parole Board have made the right decision [and] put the families of the victims first and listened to us before the murderer.
"Let us hope this continues."
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2021-06-07 11:25:45Z
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