Colin Blanchard, who orchestrated a nationwide network of child sexual abuse by manipulating four women he met over the internet, is due to be assessed for release at an upcoming hearing of the Parole Board.
In 2011, Blanchard, a father-of-two from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was handed an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) with a minimum tariff of nine years. Passing sentence, the trial judge branded Blanchard “warped, wicked, dangerous, devious and manipulative”, issuing a formal warning that his risk to the public was so profound that he might never be released from custody.
Blanchard has remained in high-security prison conditions for 15 years. A previous formal bid for release on licence was refused by the Parole Board in 2024, after a specialist panel determined that his deviant sexual interests remained “pervasive” and unaddressed to a degree that precluded safe management in the community.
During the original criminal proceedings, the court heard that Blanchard used online platforms to identify, groom, and manipulate women into sexually assaulting infants, toddlers, and young children in their care and transmitting digital recordings of the abuse directly to him.
The four women involved have all since completed their respective custodial terms and been discharged from prison:
Vanessa George: A Plymouth nursery worker who refused to identify the individual children she abused, some as young as 18 months old. Police seized approximately 150 indecent images depicting 64 distinct child victims from her mobile device.
Tracy Lyons: A mother-of-nine and former nursery volunteer from Portsmouth who molested a two-year-old boy, caused a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and admitted six charges of child sex abuse and distribution.
Tracy Dawber: A Southport care worker convicted of one count of sexually assaulting a child and five counts of permitting indecent photographs of a child to be taken.
Angela Allen: A former sex worker who admitted four counts of child sexual assault and one count of distributing an indecent image.
Under UK legislation, all child victims involved in the case are protected by lifelong statutory anonymity.
Blanchard admitted taking indecent photographs of children, distributing an indecent image, and sexually assaulting a child under 13, having previously entered guilty pleas to 19 other child sexual abuse charges. During clinical assessments and court hearings, Blanchard acknowledged holding pervasive sexual interests involving children as well as bestiality.
Release Calculation: Because Blanchard is serving an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP), there is no statutory end date or automatic release mechanism for his sentence. Although his nine-year punitive tariff expired in 2020, he can only be released if an independent panel of the Parole Board is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that he remains confined. If directed for release, Blanchard will remain subject to an indefinite licence for life, managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Level 3, with immediate recall to prison for any breach of licence conditions.
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