Simon Smith: Ex-partner scared and let down over his prison release

Rachel Playfair lost daughter Lauren in November 1994

The ex-partner of a man who suffocated their three-month-old daughter said she feels "let down" and scared to learn of his imminent release.

Simon Smith killed baby Lauren in 1994 in Staffordshire. An investigation led to the grim discovery he had also murdered his two other children.

He was convicted of all three murders and jailed for life in 1996.

Lauren's mother Rachel Playfair said the public would be horrified to know a triple murderer was being released.

The Parole Board confirmed it had directed the release of Smith on licence following a hearing.

Smith was jailed at Stafford Crown Court in 1996

Ms Playfair, from Shropshire, said she expected him to be released, despite the Ministry of Justice also opposing it, in the coming weeks.

"He's served less than 10 years for each life he took," she said.

"The judge said at the time life should be life, but in the '90s that wasn't something the judges were able to give, but if he had done it now he would not be released."

• 'How could my healthy girl suddenly be dead?'

Smith was given three life sentences for the murders of Eleisha in 1989, Jamie in 1993 and Lauren the following year, with a minimum 24-year tariff.

At the time decisions on the minimum length of a life sentence were made by the home secretary which passed to judges when the Criminal Justice Act was implemented in 2003.

In 2019 when Smith was moved to an open prison, Ms Playfair said she knew "the writing was on the wall" for his release.

He was photographed the night before murdering his daughter

The couple met at St George's Hospital in Stafford in 1993 while Ms Playfair was being treated for an eating disorder and Smith for depression.

She said she was 22 at the time and very vulnerable, only realising he was a violent alcoholic and a domestic abuser when their relationship had developed.

She planned to end it but discovered she was pregnant and they stayed together.

'Those words stay with you'

Lauren was born in August 1994 and was suffocated by Smith on 17 November while he looked after her on his own for the first time.

Her death prompted police to investigate the deaths of his other children with a different partner in Staffordshire, whom Smith said had suffered cot deaths.

Their mother was also "terribly upset and devastated" to know of his likely release, said Ms Playfair.

Ms Playfair said she was worried for the safety of other vulnerable women

During his trial for Lauren's death, she said Smith threatened to kill her and she was now scared as "those words stay with you".

She added that now he was able to start a new life at 54, she worried for the safety of other vulnerable women.

"There's an overwhelming sense of frustration in the way the Parole Board assess the cases of the most serious offenders - it seems a tick-box exercise that relegates victims' personal statements as merely superfluous.

"The Parole Board has let us down, they've let his three victims down, and they've let the public down."

In a statement, the Parole Board said "decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community".

"A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims," the spokesperson added.