Colin Pitchfork has had his parole hearing delayed after the double child killer launched a legal bid for a judicial review related to his parole hearing.
Pitchfork was jailed for life in 1988 after raping and strangling two 15-year-olds, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.
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, now 64, 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.
The Parole Board said he is seeking permission for a review over ‘ongoing fresh allegations’ about his behaviour in prison and the extent of new material in the case that he has been permitted to see.
Pitchfork (pictured on the street of Bristol on day release in 2021) 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
Lynda Mann, 15, was brutally murdered as she made her way home from babysitting in Narborough
Dawn Ashworth’s body was discovered dumped in the corner of a field hidden under branches in Enderby
He was due to have a private oral Parole Board hearing in October and November but this has been delayed until further notice.
A spokesman for the Parole Board said: ‘Colin Pitchfork was due to have an oral hearing in October and November. However, he asked for the hearing to be adjourned because he was making an application for permission for judicial review.
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‘The pending judicial review relates to the ongoing fresh allegations and the extent of the new material submitted in the case that he has been permitted to see.
‘A panel of the Parole Board sought representations from both parties and agreed to the adjournment request; the oral hearing will be adjourned until further notice. This is because of the potential impact of any decision in the judicial review on the oral hearing.
‘Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.
‘As ongoing legal proceedings are active, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this stage.’
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 lost his latest bid for freedom in December, earlier this year he successfully challenged the ruling to keep him behind bars.
It means this upcoming parole hearing, which was originally due to be held in public, will decide if he can be freed from jail.
Parole Board hearings are typically conducted behind closed doors but can, in certain circumstances, take place in public following changes in the law in a bid to remove the secrecy behind the process.
Mugshot of Colin Pitchfork, the first murderer convicted and jailed using DNA evidence
Convicted child killer Pitchfork is seen walking in a local park near young families after his release in 2021
According to a document outlining the decision to have Pitchfork’s case heard in public, the Parole Board said he had changed his name by deed poll a number of times since his conviction due to 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.
Pitchfork’s first application for parole was rejected after it emerged that he had been loitering in forests and parks, even approaching lone women during his spell of freedom.
He had been released under ultra-strict licence conditions in June 2021 before being recalled to prison just three months later in September that year.
The killer became eligible for release again in June 2023 but the decision was blocked by the government after pressure from MP Alberto Costa, who represents South Leicestershire where the vile crimes were committed.
The double child-rapist and murderer successfully appealed the December 2023 decision to keep him behind bars triggering a fresh parole hearing this summer.
Mr Costa previously wrote to Parole Board chair Caroline Corby calling for the hearing to be held in public due to his concerns about how the Parole Board has handled Pitchfork’s case.
During the Parole Board hearing last year, in which Pitchfork’s bid for release was rejected, previously unknown details about why he had been recalled to prison came to light.
After his release in a town on England’s south coast, on one occasion the monster was spotted by his parole officer approaching a lone female – a direct contravention of his licence term – in the car park directly outside his parole office.
On a different occasion Pitchfork shouted at a parole officer after trying to cheat a polygraph test by controlling his breathing.
Pitchfork raped and murdered Dawn Ashworth (pictured) three years after his first attack
Lynda Mann (pictured) who was raped and murdered by Pitchfork in 1983 when she was just 15
Volunteers take tests to help police find the murderer of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, January 5, 1987
Artist’s file impression of Colin Pitchfork appealing the length of his sentence at the Court of Appeal in London on June 20, 2021
During the December hearing the Parole Board was told that prior to Pitchfork’s arrest in 1987 he held ‘deviant fantasies’, felt entitled to sex where and when he wanted, and enjoyed sexual violence against women.
The board’s decision to deny his release was because of a lack of information about Pitchfork’s current attitudes towards sex and ‘protracted and inconsistent explanations from the killer as to why he was recalled to prison’.
Pitchfork killed Lynda in Narborough, Leicestershire, in November 1983, and Dawn in the nearby village of Enderby in July 1986.
Lynda was brutally murdered as she made her way home from babysitting in Narborough.
Dawn disappeared three years later while on a short walk to her home in Enderby.
Her body was discovered dumped in the corner of a field hidden under branches.
Pitchfork was arrested on September 19 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment the following January after pleading guilty to both murders, with the judge giving him a 30-year minimum term, later reduced to 28 years on appeal.
He was also convicted of having sexually assaulted two more girls, including a 16-year-old who he threatened with a screwdriver and a knife.
