Judges rule out 2011 release for Pitchfork

Lawyers acting for double killer Colin Pitchfork have abandoned the final leg of his appeal for early release.

The 49-year-old, who was jailed for life for raping and murdering two Leicestershire schoolgirls in the 1980s, was seeking a cut in the minimum term he must serve before he can apply for release.

His legal team was preparing to seek leave to go to the House of Lords where they were expected to argue the minimum term he must serve – or tariff – was excessive.

They had indicated they were going to argue he should be allowed to seek his freedom as early as 2011.

However, they have now confirmed to the Leicester Mercury the appeal will not go ahead in light of a ruling by senior judges.

As a result of the judgment, the chances of taking the case to the European Court of Human rights were “slim to none”, they said.

The Home Office ruled in 1994 he should serve 30 years before being considered for release, leaving him eligible for parole in 2018.

Last month judges at the Royal Courts of Justice in London reduced that to 28 years because of his “exceptional progress”.

They rejected his claim the minimum term was excessive, but allowed his legal team leave to seek permission to take the case to the House of Lords.

Confirmation that the appeal had been halted came as a relief to Kath Eastwood, mother of Pitchfork’s first victim, Lynda Mann.

Lynda, 15, was killed near her home in Narborough in November 1983.

Mrs Eastwood, 60, of Leicester, was upset in May when her daughter’s killer won the two-year reduction in his sentence because of his good conduct in prison and his charity work for the RNIB.

She said: “It’s a relief it seems that it’s over for now, especially after what happened last month.

“We won’t have to see his face in the newspapers or on the television.”

Lynda’s cousin, 45-year-old Jackie Frost, of Eyres Monsell, last year raised a petition to protest against his bid for freedom. She said: “He hasn’t got everything he wanted and that’s something.

“I’m still disappointed the court cut his sentence by two years though. I don’t think he will ever change so he should never come out of prison.”

Pitchfork, from Littlethorpe, – not far from the scene of his murders – was the first killer in the world to be caught by DNA evidence.

He was given two life sentences in 1988 for raping and murdering Lynda in 1983 and killing Dawn Ashworth, also 15, in similarly brutal fashion three years later.

His legal team indicated at hearings last year the appropriate tariff would be between 20 and 25 years.

A spokesman for Doughty Street Chambers, the London law firm representing Pitchfork, said judges at the Royal Courts of Justice told them yesterday that they would not allow the case to go to the House of Lords.

The spokesman added that the chances of taking the appeal to the next stage, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg were slim.

He said: “You have to think this is the end of it.”

Senior judges are due to make a statement on the conclusion of the appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday.

When cutting Pitchfork’s minimum sentence from 30 to 28 years last month, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Justice Judge, stressed he would only be released when he was no longer a threat to the public.