In 2021, Colin Pitchfork, a then-61-year-old man from Leicestershire, was approved for release by the Parole Board 33 years after being jailed for life for the rape and murder of two 15-year-old girls.
Colin Pitchfork was sentenced to life imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court in 1988 after pleading guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The court heard that in November 1983, Pitchfork raped and strangled 15-year-old Lynda Mann on a footpath in Leicestershire. In July 1986, he subjected 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth to a violent sexual assault before strangling her in a nearby wooded area. Pitchfork became the first person in the world to be identified and convicted through DNA profiling following a mass screening operation involving 5,000 local men.
Following an oral hearing in March 2021, a Parole Board panel concluded that Pitchfork met the statutory test for release under a strict risk management plan. His approved release conditions mandated residing at a designated location, electronic tagging, polygraph testing, and strict exclusion zones prohibiting him from entering Leicestershire or making contact with the victims’ families.
Following his convictions for rape and child murder, Pitchfork remains on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
He also remains subject to statutory public protection notification requirements, lifetime licence supervision, and mandatory risk management protocols upon any eventual release from prison.
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