Daily Mail

Seen for the first time in 18 years, road rage killer Noye on day release

- By Ian Drury Home Affairs Editor

LOOKING fit and relaxed, this is road rage killer Kenneth Noye taking one more step to freedom.

Wearing a tracksuit, he was collected outside an open prison and taken to hospital by a 4x4, later returning from the threehour trip unaccompan­ied.

The career criminal, once acquitted of murdering a policeman after claiming self- defence, was jailed for life in 2000 for stabbing Stephen Cameron, 21, to death on an M25 slip road four years earlier.

But yesterday the 70-year- old was pictured walking outside for the first time in 18 years near HMP Standford Hill, a Category D jail on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

It is just 30 miles from the father of his victim – raising concerns that he may come face-to-face with the man who took the life of his son. Probation sources revealed the killer will be spending more time back in the community.

One insider said: ‘The plan is for Noye to have day releases a couple of times a week up until the end of May. He will then be allowed weekend visits to a place approved by the prison authoritie­s. He is likely to be released from his sentence before the end of the year.’

As Noye is now in open conditions he will become eligible for day release and work placements in an attempt to reintegrat­e him into society.

The killer, who moved to open conditions last year, could be out on parole within months.

Stephen’s dad Ken Cameron, 71, last night spoke of his anger and frustratio­n. He said: ‘I am totally devastated. I can’t believe he’s been able to walk the streets again. He left my son Stephen to die in the gutter. He shouldn’t be allowed out – it’s as simple as that.

‘Now he’ll be able to go shopping or get a job. It makes me so angry.’

Mr Cameron’s wife Toni – Stephen’s mum – died in April 2016 after a short illness aged 73.

He said: ‘I’m just relieved in a way that Toni did not see him come out. She would’ve been so upset. He shouldn’t be allowed out – even if it is for a couple of hours.

‘My worst fear has been that I would bump into him somewhere. That would be awful, coming across him.’

The murder of young electricia­n Stephen in May 1996 horrified the nation and triggered an internatio­nal manhunt.

Danielle Cable, who was just 17, watched in horror as Noye pulled out a nine-inch knife and fatally stabbed her boyfriend in a road rage attack at traffic lights on the M25 slip road at Swanley, Kent. Noye, a career criminal once jailed for conspiring to handle gold from the 1983 £26million Brink’s Mat heist at Heathrow Airport, was prime suspect for the frenzied attack.

Police discovered he had fled the country in a helicopter, but he was found in Spain living a life of luxury on the Costa del Sol where he owned a £500,000 house.

Miss Cable identified him and he was arrested, extradited and convicted of murder. She has since changed her identity amid fears Noye has put a £1million bounty on her head.

In 1985, Noye stabbed to death Detective Constable John Fordham in the grounds of his Kent mansion but was cleared of murder and manslaught­er after per- suading a jury he had been acting in self- defence. After his conviction for Stephen Cameron’s murder, he was initially held in highsecuri­ty HMP Whitemoor in Cambridges­hire, then category B Lowdham Grange in Nottingham­shire, and category C HMP Wayland in Norfolk.

The Parole Board first recommende­d he be moved to an open jail in 2015. That move was blocked by then Justice Secretary Michael Gove amid fears the killer, who was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years, remained a grave danger to the public.

But in February last year he won a High Court battle to get the decision overturned.

He was moved to HMP Standford Hill as it is close to the homes of his sons Kevin and Brett as well as his estranged wife Brenda, 68.

He is living in his own single cell on the 464- capacity prison’s Bwing, where inmates are given their own key, are allowed to wear their own clothes, and can earn a string of luxuries, including being allowed their own television. Built on the site of an old RAF base, the jail has its own allotment allowing inmates to grow their own vegetables, and has extensive sport activities including badminton, football and mountain biking.

Prisoners can also take part in a range of full and part-time education courses, including barista training, business, constructi­on, customer service, digital media, hospitalit­y and vehicle maintenanc­e. Despite repaying £3million to the authoritie­s in 1994, he is still believed to have millions of pounds stashed away for when he leaves jail.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Prisoners in open conditions are occasional­ly permitted a short period of unescorted leave for medical appointmen­ts, subject to stringent risk assessment­s and the prison governor’s sign-off.

‘If they do not adhere to the strict conditions of their temporary release, or if they commit a further offence, they can be immediatel­y recalled to closed conditions.’

‘My worst fear is bumping into him’

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 ??  ?? Out and about: Kenneth Noye, right, near HMP Stanford yesterday. Above: His mugshot after he killed motorist Stephen Cameron, left
Out and about: Kenneth Noye, right, near HMP Stanford yesterday. Above: His mugshot after he killed motorist Stephen Cameron, left
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