Loophole means that child rapist and killer Pitchfork will not go on the sex offender list
News that double child-murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork had been granted parole caused outrage and upset last month, and the government tried and failed to reverse the decision. Now it has been revealed that the killer of Dawn Ashworth, near right, and Lynda Mann will not even be on the sex offender register.
Finvola Dunphy reports
SCHOOLGIRL murderer Colin Pitchfork will not be placed on the sex offender register when he is released from prison due to a legal loophole.
The 61-year-old is set to be released from HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire, possibly as early as today, after 33 years behind bars.
Pitchfork raped and killed 15-yearolds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Narborough and Enderby in 1983 and 1986 respectively.
But he will not be on the sex offender list and has plans to change his name, our sister paper The Mirror has learned. Pitchfork has been using the name David Thorpe for several years but plans to further mask his identity and past with another name change.
He is perfectly entitled to swap his identity again by deed poll – and it would cost him just £33.
Dawn’s mother Barbara, 75, said: “Words fail me. A psychopath like him shouldn’t be allowed to change his name. He’ll be able to walk in the pub as a new man, with a new identity.
“It’s absolutely shocking that 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. He shouldn’t be able to hide who he is.”
Pitchfork, the first killer in the world to be snared using DNA evidence, will be released without being monitored on the sex offender register thanks to a legal loophole.
The strict monitoring conditions cannot be imposed on anyone convicted of sex crimes pre-1997. Anyone on the register has to notify police of changes in their circumstances – including a name change.
The government, which fought a Parole Board decision to release him, has said Pitchfork will nevertheless be subject to tough conditions.
The Ministry of Justice, which fought against his release on parole, said Pitchfork would remain under close probation supervision for life.
A spokesman said: “Pitchfork will be on licence for life and subject to supervision and conditions far stricter than the sex offender register. If he breaches these, he faces being sent back to prison.”
But former Labour Home Secretary Lord David Blunkett said: “I was deeply disappointed that the Parole Board did not reverse their earlier decision to release Pitchfork, given the heinous nature of the crimes he committed.
“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.”
Barbara, who now lives in Cornwall, said: “It’s shocking that he is not on the register. I assumed he would have been. I’m convinced he will do all he can to be around children.
“He has been refused that opportunity while he’s been locked up, but that will change when he walks the streets again. He’s so arrogant – a psychopath who thinks he is above it all. The public must be protected from him and every safeguard must be put in place.”
Pitchfork raped and strangled Lynda in Narborough, and did the same to Dawn three years later in nearby Enderby.
The predator, who has been allowed out on day release trips for at least four years, is set for full freedom after the government failed to overturn the Parole Board decision.
He will be required to wear a tag on his release, live at a specific address and take lie detector tests.
Dad-of-two Pitchfork, a convicted flasher, left his baby son asleep in a car before killing Lynda, who was walking home along a dimly-lit path.
He raped and murdered her simply because “she was there”, he admitted to police later.
Three years later, Dawn’s body was found in woods less than a mile away after a brutal sexual assault. Pitchfork was convicted by DNA evidence after a mass screening of nearly 5,000 men living near the crime scenes. Pitchfork, who was married, was given a 30-year minimum term, cut to 28 years in 2009. He was deemed safe for release by the Parole Board in March. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland branded the decision irrational but officials rejected a last-ditch appeal. Brian Escott-Cox QC, who prosecuted the case, said tougher sentencing laws today would have kept Pitchfork in prison for life.
In the Sunday People last month, Mr Escott-Cox, 89, said: “Knowing the case as well as I do, I feel uncomfortable about his release. He’s a psychopath – there’s no known cure. “One thing he constantly said when he was arrested in 1987 was, ‘I’m not an educated man, I can’t believe how easy it is to fool these people. All you have to do is tell them what they want to hear.’”
Words fail me... He’ll be able to walk in the pub as a new man, with a new identity
Barbara Ashworth