Colin Pitchfork: Fears after child killer moved to open prison

Colin Pitchfork was the first person convicted based on DNA profiling after he raped and murdered two Leicestershire school girls

The mother of a girl who was raped and murdered says she fears her daughter's killer could soon be freed after he was moved to an open prison.

Colin Pitchfork, 55, was given a life sentence in 1988 for the rape and murder of 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire.

Kath Eastwood, Lynda's mother, said the thought of his possible release gave her "sleepless nights".

The Prison Service said it did not comment on individual prisoners.

Kath Eastwood, Lynda's mother, said Pitchfork should stay in prison

Pitchfork was the first person convicted based on DNA profiling after he raped and murdered the two schoolgirls in 1983 and 1986.

Alberto Costa MP, who is the MP for South Leicestershire where the murders occurred, received a letter from Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah confirming Pitchfork had been moved.

It came after the former Justice Secretary Michael Gove recommended the transfer in June.

However, the letter did not say which prison Pitchfork had been moved to, when it happened or whether he would be allowed out in public, unsupervised.

Mr Costa said he understood the Parole Board could decide in 2018 whether to release Pitchfork.

The letter sent to Alberto Costa from Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah

He said: "There are some crimes that are so heinous that you do have to ask whether it is ever right to release an individual."

Mrs Eastwood said Pitchfork did not deserve to ever be released.

"It gives me sleepless nights and the fear that one day he will be walking down the street near me," she said.

"He killed two girls and ruined two families and he should not have been considered for open prison.

"I'm very fearful, in my eyes this is his first steps to freedom."

Colin Pitchfork: Two brutal murders

• Colin Pitchfork, 22 at the time of the first murder, was married with two sons. He was a baker who grew up in rural Leicestershire and lived in Littlethorpe

• In November 1983 he left his baby son sleeping in the back of his car and raped and strangled 15-year-old Lynda Mann with her own scarf in Narborough. He then drove home and put his son to bed

• Three years later, less than a mile from where Lynda died, he raped and murdered Dawn Ashworth, also 15, of Enderby. The pathologist who examined her body described it as a "brutal sexual assault"

• A police investigation initially led to the wrong man, Richard Buckland, a local 17-year-old who falsely confessed to one of the killings. After an unprecedented mass screening of 5,000 men using pioneering "DNA profiling" technology, Pitchfork was eventually caught. At first, Pitchfork had evaded justice by persuading a colleague to take the test for him

• He pleaded guilty to both murders in September 1987 and was sentenced to life in January 1988. The judge said the killings were "particularly sadistic" and he doubted Pitchfork would ever be released

• In 2009, his 30-year life tariff was reduced by two years for "exceptional progress" - a decision that was strongly criticised by the families of his victims