Malcolm Fairley: Documentary reveals 'The Fox' eligible for parole

Malcolm Fairley was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to six life sentences

A sex attacker dubbed "The Fox" is now eligible for parole board hearings, a TV documentary has revealed.

Channel 5 will air a documentary about a series of burglaries and sex attacks in 1984 across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Malcolm Fairley was sentenced to six life sentences for his crimes at St Albans Crown Court in 1985.

The Parole Board said Fairley was refused parole in October and has not yet been referred for his next review.

Retired Det Ch Supt Brian Prickett said Fairley was "still a real risk to the public".

Fairley was named "The Fox", because he would build dens in the houses he broke into while waiting for homeowners to return.

Malcolm Fairley was sentenced to six life sentences for his crimes

He prepared and ate meals in their homes, watched television and collected trophies.

Fairley, masked and brandishing a shotgun, would then commit crimes such as rape, indecent assault and other violent attacks.

At the height of his offending, in the summer of 1984, there were three attacks in one week.

'Fear and harm'

It became one of the largest police manhunts in British criminal history with 200 officers involved.

The documentary, The Intruder: He's Watching You From Within, will include police interviews never heard before, in which Fairley confessed to the crimes and explained why he did them.

Mr Prickett, who led the investigation into Fairley's crimes, told ITN: "Malcolm Fairley should never come out of prison after all the fear and harm he put into the community.

"He never deserves to be released because I think he's still a real risk to the public."

Det Ch Supt Brian Prickett spoke about the arrest in the ITN documentary

Fairley also committed break-ins and sexual crimes in Milton Keynes, South Yorkshire and his native north east.

He was arrested in September 1984 at his home in Kentish Town, north London, after forensic evidence linked his car to an attack.

At the time of his arrest Fairley had committed 81 offences.

In the documentary, Det Ch Supt Prickett talks about finally coming face-to-face with Fairley: "When I first saw him he said to me, 'I'd seen you on the television a few times, and I never thought I'd see you in real life'. I said to him, 'I knew I'd see you'.

"We said, 'Why did you do it? Tell us why. Do you realise what you did to these people? Are you sorry?' He shrugged his shoulders. He never showed any remorse, or he never once asked, 'How are these people?' Not once.

"Psychiatrists said that he was rational and that he was normal. Well, I never accepted that. As a police officer, you deal with him professionally, but as a human being to human being, you've got complete disgust, you've got almost hatred.

"I don't think I'll ever understand the motivation he had for the attacks he carried out."

Fairley would build dens in the houses of his victims earning him the name the Fox

Mr Justice Caulfield sentenced Fairley following his trial at St Albans Crown Court in February 1985.

He said: "There are degrees of wickedness beyond condemnatory description. Your crimes fall within this category. You desecrated and defiled men and women in their own homes."

A spokesperson from Bedfordshire Police said Fairley attracted little suspicion in his everyday life, although he was known for petty crimes the father-of-three seemed to live a "somewhat normal family life".

The documentary has been produced by ITN Productions and commissioned for Channel 5.