Date set to consider release of double child killer

Colin Pitchfork was jailed in 1988 for raping and strangling Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth

A date has been set for a Parole Board hearing to consider the release of double child killer Colin Pitchfork.

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

After being released and then recalled in 2021, the 64-year-old was again granted parole in June 2024, but this decision was challenged by ministers.

The new hearing date was originally listed for 24 June 2025 but will now take place on Friday.

Dawn and Lynda were killed by Pitchfork in the 1980s

Pitchfork was 27 when 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.

He was previously granted parole in 2021, but was recalled to prison shortly after for breaching the conditions of his licence after Pitchfork disclosed he had approached a lone female.

The Parole Board's June 2023 decision to release Pitchfork was challenged by ministers following "public concerns".

Then justice secretary, Alex Chalk, applied for reconsideration in July 2023, leading to a fresh hearing in October 2023 and a December 2023 ruling to keep him in prison.

Pitchfork successfully applied for reconsideration of this decision, resulting in further hearings scheduled for late 2024, which were delayed by a pending judicial review against the Parole Board by the prisoner.

Following Pitchfork's failed legal bid, a Parole Board Panel met in May and June 2025, but they had to adjourn as there was "insufficient time to hear all the evidence".