Colin Pitchfork prison behaviour claims end hope of public parole hearing

Double child killer Colin Pitchfork’s next parole hearing will no longer be held in public because of “fresh allegations” about his behaviour in prison.

Police decided to take no further action against Pitchfork over the matters because they do not have the support of his alleged victim, a ruling by Parole Board chairman Judge Peter Rook KC has said.

It is unclear what the allegations refer to.

The chairman said the panel is “under a duty to investigate” the matters, adding that “the transcript of a body-worn video” has been placed in Pitchfork’s dossier.

Announcing the decision earlier this month, the panel apologised for the “increased stress” on the families of the victims.

Pitchfork, 64, was jailed for life in 1988 after raping and strangling 15-year-old girls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.

We would like to apologise again for the increased stress that both the adjournment and the subsequent public hearing decision may have on the victims

Then aged 27, he became the first man to be convicted in the UK using DNA profiling, and was handed a minimum jail term of 30 years, later reduced to 28 years.

Pitchfork was initially released from prison in September 2021, but was back behind bars two months later after breaching his licence conditions, when he approached a lone woman while litter-picking.

A three-day face-to face hearing at the prison where Pitchfork is located will be held on October 10  and November 14 and 15 2024.

A spokesman for the Parole Board said previously: “We would like to apologise again for the increased stress that both the adjournment and the subsequent public hearing decision may have on the victims.

“Victim involvement is a valued part of the parole process and the victims have been invited to observe some of the private proceedings.”

In June last year, the Parole Board found the decision to recall Pitchfork to prison was flawed and said his detention was no longer necessary for public safety.

But this ruling was blocked by then-justice secretary Alex Chalk as he called for the decision to release Pitchfork to be reviewed.

Although Pitchfork, now 64, lost his latest bid for freedom in December, earlier this year he successfully challenged the ruling to keep him behind bars.

It meant he will now face a fresh parole hearing, which could see him released from jail.

The hearings are typically conducted behind closed doors but can now, in certain circumstances, take place in public if requested, after changes in the law in a bid to remove the secrecy behind the process.

The Parole Board said Pitchfork had changed his name by deed poll a number of times since his conviction because of an apparent “desire to protect his identity given the public reaction to his offences and his potential release”.

The name he is currently using has not been disclosed.