Parents of teenage girl killed by her abusive boyfriend when he shoved her down the stairs slam decision to free him from jail

• Darren Pilkington killed Carly Fairhurst, 19, at a home in Wigan in 2006 

The parents of a teenage girl killed by her abusive boyfriend have slammed the decision to free him from prison.

Furious Trevor and Sheila Fairhurst said they were left ‘disgusted’ after the Parole Board decided to release career criminal Darren Pilkington, 41, on license.

He was caged for manslaughter in 2006 after he pushed their daughter Carly Fairhurst, 19, down the stairs during a row at a home in Wigan and left her for dead.

He’d previously been jailed for the manslaughter of Paul Akister in 2000.

Pilkington has spent the following 18 years in and out of high-security jails for failing to abide by his strict release conditions.

And when he was allowed to stay at an open prison in 2022, he then absconded and went on the run for three days.

Now the Parole Board has recommended that he is fit to leave prison and live in a bail hostel, monitored with an electronic tag and subject to a curfew.

Carly Fairhurst (pictured) died after being pushed down the stairs by her boyfriend who left her for dead in 2006

But Trevor said: ‘The parole board has made a bad decision seven times. He’s being released one day this week, we’re absolutely disgusted.

‘He’s still under the same licence conditions, he’ll be monitored at a bail hostel and tagged as well.

‘But as he was before, he’s no respect for the justice system at all.

READ MORE Hunt for double killer as he absconds from prison for a SECOND time as parents of his 19-year-old victim slam ‘cushy’ jail conditions

‘We can’t settle because every time he does something wrong or absconds, it breaks it all up for us.

‘We were asked if we wanted to write a reconsideration letter again.

‘We had discussions with the police and between ourselves and we weren’t going to do one, but everybody around me was saying your voice needs to be heard.’

Pilkington, who now calls himself Darren Carr, was given a sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) after he was jailed for Carly’s death.

This meant he only had to serve a minimum sentence of little more than three years before he could start repeatedly trying to prove he was fit for release.

Trevor and Sheila have subsequently battled to keep the double killer behind bars, submitting impact statements to his hearing on a yearly basis.

And following previous decisions to release Pilkington into the community, he has been returned to secure prisons for breaking the terms of his licenses.

In 2022, he absconded Kirkham Open Prison in Lancashire and was on the run for three days before being captured in Horwich.

This was close to an exclusion zone where he is forbidden from entering which surrounds Wigan borough, where Carly’s parents still live.

However, a parole hearing held earlier this year decided that he should be released on licence, subject to strict conditions.

Darren Pilkington (pictured) was jailed for Carly’s manslaughter, but has since spent the following 18 years in and out of high-security jails for failing to abide by his strict release conditions

These included residing at a designated address, keeping away from the exclusion zone, staying on the right side of the law and submitting to enhanced supervision, including a curfew and electronic tracking.

Against him, the hearing heard there were a number of risk factors from his past.

These included his attitudes towards violence and crime, his choice of a negative peer group, misuse of both alcohol and drugs, communication difficulties and a generally unstable lifestyle.

The hearing also heard that his poor response to supervision had been a persistent problem.

But the board was told since his latest incarceration, his behaviour had been ‘generally good, that he had a trusted prison job and had obtained a vocational qualification.’

And they also heard that ‘there had been no evidence of any violent behaviour.’

He had also completed work on alcohol, relapse prevention and managing boredom and stress, they were told.

And he had remained on a specialist unit for those committed to recovering from their addictions and was considered to have developed a good level of insight into the risks associated with his drug use.

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