Call for parole change after serial attacker jailed

Anthony Roberts was jailed for an attack in Worcester which came five months after he was released from prison

The case of a sex offender who attacked a woman in her 70s just months after he was released from prison shows the parole system needs reforming, an MP said.

Anthony Roberts was jailed on Tuesday for repeatedly stabbing his victim beside the River Severn in Worcester in May.

At his sentencing hearing, it emerged he was released from prison five months earlier from a life sentence.

"When it comes to really appalling crimes of this nature, life should mean life," Worcester MP Robin Walker said.

"I think this case clearly shows that there is not close enough scrutiny of people who are released on licence."

Roberts' life sentence was for attempting to murder a teenage girl with a knife and wounding a woman in 1990, Worcester Crown Court heard.

For the later crime, the 56-year-old, of Green Hill, Worcester, had previously pleaded guilty to offences including attempted murder and assault by penetration and was jailed for more than 19 years.

At his plea hearing, prosecutors said he was handed a life term in 1991 for offences which had "striking similarities" to the attack near the River Severn in Worcester

Robin Walker said he wanted changes made to the parole system as in some cases "life should mean life"

A Serious Further Offence review was under way into the case, a Ministry of Justice [MoJ] spokesperson said.

The government has announced proposed changes to the parole system, which would include giving ministers powers to block the release of serious offenders.

When MPs return to Westminster next week, Mr Walker said he planned to write to the MoJ to urge them to bring in the change as soon as possible.

"I think ministers fundamentally need the power to overrule decisions by the probation authorities to release people on licence," he said.

"If they can take that power, they can protect the public better."