Double child killer Colin Pitchfork who raped and strangled two 15-year-olds to get another bid for freedom after successfully challenging Parole Board

Double child killer Colin Pitchfork who raped and strangled two teenager girls to death has been granted another bid for freedom after successfully challenging the Parole Board.

The 63-year-old monster was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years in 1988 for the killings of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in 1983 and 1986 respectively. This sentence was later reduced to 28 years.

Last year the Parole Board discussed whether the murderer could be released but in December ruled he should remain behind bars.

But Pitchfork applied for the decision to be reconsidered and this has been granted, the Parole Board said on Monday.

It means he will face another parole hearing to decide if he can be freed from jail.

Dawn Ashworth, 15, was raped and murdered by Pitchfork in 1988 in Leicestershire

Lynda Mann was also one of Pitchfork’s victims, also being killed and raped in 1988

Pitchfork’s first application for parole was rejected after it emerged that he had been loitering in forests and parks, even approaching lone women during his spell of freedom.

He had been released under ultra-strict licence conditions in June 2021 before being recalled to prison just three months later in September that year.

In a statement released this afternoon the Parole Board said that Pitchfork had been eligible to appeal the decision on the grounds the decision had ‘been irrational, procedurally unfair and/or there had been an error of law’.

Pitchfork made an application for reconsideration in December 2023 and this was granted by a member of the Parole Board today.

A spokesperson said: ‘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.

Lynda Mann (pictured) who was raped and murdered by Pitchfork in 1983 when she was just 15

‘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.’

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