Outrage over decision to award parole chief CBE

GRIEVING relatives have expressed their pain and anger after the chief executive of the Parole Board was made a CBE for services to victims.

The honour for Martin Jones, who has been in post since 2015, comes just days after an outcry over the Parole Board’s decision to release Colin Pitchfork, who raped and killed two schoolgirls in the 1980s.

Pitchfork was the first man convicted of murder on the basis of DNA evidence and was jailed for life for strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.

Dawn’s mother Barbara Ashworth, 75, of Liskeard, Cornwall, said: “Nothing amazes me anymore about all of this. I do not think it is a good idea for him to get it.

“They get all the pluses, people like him and Colin Pitchfork, and nothing for the victims.”

Some relatives of the victims, politicians and detectives involved in the case expressed concerns about Pitchfork’s release. The Government is considering whether to challenge the decision.

Mr Jones is also celebrated in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his work on diversity and transparency within the parole process.

Marie McCourt, 77, whose 22-yearold insurance clerk daughter Helen vanished on her way home from work in 1988, said it was “very bad timing” for him to get the award given this week’s announcement of Pitchfork’s release.

Mrs McCourt said: “I have no faith in the man.”