Parole Board’s move to release murderer is ‘betrayal’, says victim’s mother

The mother of a woman who was raped and murdered 27 years ago has said a Parole Board recommendation that her killer should be released from prison is a “betrayal”.

Joanne Tulip, 29, was stabbed 60 times on Christmas Day 1997 in an attack inspired by sadism, the sentencing judge said almost a year later.

Steven Ling, a farm worker, was jailed for life after admitting the murder in Stamfordham, Northumberland. A charge of rape was left on file during the original court case, but Ling had “always accepted that he raped the victim”, the Parole Board said in its ruling.

After his fifth parole hearing, the board has recommended his release.

Doreen Soulsby, Tulip’s mother, said she was appalled and disgusted at the recommendation. “That man committed horrific offences against my daughter and yet is deemed to not be a high risk and is safe to be released from prison. It’s outrageous,” she said in a statement.

The recommendation was “a betrayal to not only Joanne’s family but to the families of other victims in similar situations”.

The government was “supposedly committed to halving violence against women and girls”, she said. “If they are true to their word … they must do everything they can to ensure women and girls are kept safe from this sadistic man.”

Soulsby said she hoped the justice secretary would reject the recommendation. “If Ling is released … there will be public outcry, and confidence in the justice system will be severely damaged and will never be restored.”

The family had been shocked to learn during a public parole hearing in July that Ling was “preoccupied with sex and feels that he is entitled to it”, Soulsby’s statement said.

“I fear the first thing he will do when he gets out of prison is to try and socialise with women again. I strongly believe this man will reoffend again.

“How can the Parole Board believe this man doesn’t pose a danger to society when he took my daughter away from her family by committing the most brutal and sadistic crimes? Ling needs to stay locked up behind bars – he is a danger to all women and girls.”

Sentencing Ling at Newcastle crown court in 1998, Mr Justice Potts said Ling’s motivation was sadism, adding: “You will never be released so long as it is thought you constitute a danger to women.”

At a parole hearing in July this year, two psychologists agreed Ling should be freed from prison and spoke of his enduring “shame” about his “monstrous” past.

One said: “I believe … his risk is at a level where he does not need to be kept in prison any more.”

The second said: “I believe he meets the test for release and no longer needs to be detained for the protection of the public.”

Both psychologists agreed there was no evidence of an enduring interest in inflicting violence to achieve sexual gratification.

The second psychologist said Ling referred to himself as a monster, and “talked about the struggle to come to terms with the person he was that night”.

In its published decision, the Parole Board panel said: “The panel was satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public.”

His release is subject to conditions, which include informing the authorities of any relationships he might develop; being subject to monitoring and a curfew, and staying out of an exclusion zone to avoid contact with his victim’s family.