PSYCHOPATH KILLER PITCHFORK SHOULD NEVER BE RELEASED
...says QC who helped convict him
DOUBLE killer Colin Pitchfork is a manipulative psychopath who should NEVER be released, says a QC who helped to convict him.
Brian Escott-Cox blasted a move to free Pitchfork, who murdered Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, both 15.
The lawyer joined a chorus of outrage from MPs, ex-cops and relatives who said the murderer had fooled Parole Board chiefs.
And in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, Mr Escott-Cox claims if Pitchfork was in court today a judge would have ordered that he stays in jail until he dies.
The lawyer says: “If he were being sentenced today he’d have undoubtedly been given a whole-life sentence.
“There was more than one murder, there was an abduction element, there was a sexual element and there was a campaign of deceit.
“He would have been given a whole-life tariff and sentencing views have become tougher. He’s very lucky. It’s virtually a certainty that if he were jailed today he would never be freed.
“Knowing the case as well as I do, I feel uncomfortable about his release.
“He’s a psychopath, there’s no known cure for it. One thing he constantly said when he was first 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’.
“It’s chilling. Like all psychopaths, he was incredibly manipulative. When confessing to the Leicestershire Police officers, he was sending them out for fish and chips. He had them running around at his beck and call.”
Pitchfork was sentenced to life with a minimum 30 years – cut to 28 on appeal – after he became the first person convicted on DNA evidence.
He’s lucky not to have got a whole life sentence... it would be a cert today
BRIAN ESCOTT-COX QC ON PITCHFORK’S PRISON TERM
SCREENING
He raped and strangled Lynda in Narborough, Leics, in 1983 after dropping off his wife at an evening class and while his baby son slept in the back of his car. Three years later he raped and murdered Dawn in a similar attack in nearby Enderby.
Mr Escott-Cox, 89, said: “He never showed remorse, it’s typical of a psychopath, they do not feel remorse because they feel no guilt.
“They regard the shedding of human life like you or I would think about eating a Mars bar.”
Pitchfork, 61, was only caught after the world’s first mass DNA screening, using a technique being pioneered by Sir Alec Jeffreys, regarded as the godfather of genetic fingerprinting.
Some 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples. No matches were found, but a bakery worker was overheard boasting how he was set to receive £200 to pose as his colleague Pitchfork and give a sample.
The conversation was reported to police and Pitchfork was arrested. He admitted two counts of murder, two counts of rape, two of indecent assault and one of
conspiracy to pervert justice. But last week the Parole Board announced Pitchfork had “made progress”.
It said he could be released, with a series of conditions. Victims’ families were furious, warning he was still a danger and could strike again.
From his home on the outskirts of Leicester, DNA mastermind Sir Alec, 71, echoed the view that Pitchfork should never be released. He said: “I never
VICTIM 1 Pitchfork strangled Lynda, 15
VICTIM 2
Dawn, 15, died in similar attack comment on cases but yes, in this instance, their views reflect my own. I don’t think he should be released.”
Mr Escott-Cox insists Sir Alec should have been awarded a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work.
He says: “For a short time the case made me famous. It was the first time someone had been convicted of a crime – let alone a double rape and murder – on DNA evidence.
“I had correspondence from all over the world. I met Sir Alec, he was like an Ealing Studios film boffin. He wore a polo neck jumper, over which was a tarnished white laboratory gown, jeans, sandals and thick socks, with a beard of course.
“He was articulate and charming. It’s a scandal he has never had a Nobel Prize. If ever a single discovery changed the course of history, it’s that. It’s in crime, it’s in anthropology, it’s everywhere. It’s become part of the texture of our modern life.”