![]() His minimum term of imprisonment was set at 30 years, later reduced to 28 years in 2009 on appeal. He admitted two counts of murder, two counts of rape, two of indecent assault and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. But in 1987 a bakery colleague of Pitchfork - who had been there as an apprentice and had expressed a desire to set up his own cake-making business - was overheard boasting how he was set to receive £200 to pose as Pitchfork and give a sample. He was eventually caught after the world's first mass screening for DNA, as 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples. The killer was the first criminal to be caught by the revolutionary DNA profiling process pioneered by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester. Three years later he raped and murdered Dawn in a similar attack in nearby Enderby. He raped and strangled Lynda in Narborough after dropping his wife off at an evening class and while his baby son slept in the back of his car. Pitchfork, who at the time was a baker and known to police as a serial flasher, attacked his victims and dumped their bodies on dark, secluded footpaths in Leicestershire. The conversation was reported to the police and Pitchfork was later arrested. Later, police launched a DNA drive and up to 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples.īut in 1987 a bakery colleague of Pitchfork was overheard boasting how he was set to receive £200 to pose as Pitchfork and give a sample. It proved the killer was the same person - but not Buckland. Sir Alec first developed genetic profiling along with Peter Gill and Dave Werrett.Īnd he used it to compare DNA samples found on both bodies. He would later be exonerated.īut it wasn't until Sir Alec Jeffreys, a genetics researcher at nearby Leicester University, became involved that his innocence was proved. Officers had another suspect in mind at the time, Richard Buckland - a 17-year-old with learning difficulties who had confessed to the second murder and had knowledge of the first. Police again found similar DNA, and with the murder having been carried out in a similar way, detectives realised they were looking for a double murderer. When she did not return, a search was launched and, like Lynda, her body was found having been raped. In 1986, a second 15-year-old girl, Dawn Ashworth, left her home to visit a friend's house. It also matched an enzyme profile of just 10 per cent of males.īut with few leads and no direct suspects, police left the case open. Then 15, Lynda was grabbed, raped and murdered as she walked home from babysitting earlier that day.ĭNA was used at the start of the investigation, when a sample of semen taken from her body was found to be from a person with type-A blood. It was first used in the investigation following the death of Pitchfork's first victim - Lynda Mann. Unlike life-sentences, which are set with a minimum sentence to be served in prison, whole life orders mean a person will never leave prison.ĭNA evidence - then in its early use in criminal cases - played a key role in solving the murders of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. Under new legislation, proposed by the Government, murderers who kill multiple people, or who kill children, would face a starting point of a 'whole life order'. Pitchfork's release comes as politicians scrutinise new policy which would increase the likelihood of child killers ever being eligible for parole. 'My constituents remember the victims, people who went to school with these victims, and they look to me as the member of Parliament to do everything I can to inform the state that it would be immoral, wrong and frankly dangerous to release this disgraceful murderer of two children.'īoth victims' families have said on previous occasions that they believe Pitchfork - who has been in an open prison in recent years and who was seen ambling around shops in Bristol in 2017 - remains a danger to the public. 'Even though some 30 years have passed this isn't the sort of crime that one can ever forget. ![]() The Tory MP South Leicestershire told the BBC: 'I, like many of my South Leicestershire constituents, am appalled at this decision that the Parole Board has made. The Parole Board ruled that Pitchfork, now in his 60s, had 'made progress' while in custody and could be released with a series of conditions imposed.īut it has sparked anger from local MP Alberto Costa, who described him as 'dangerous' and said his constituents would be 'appalled' by the Parole Board's decision. Fury has today erupted over the Parole Board's decision to allow notorious child killer Colin Pitchfork to be freed from prison after 33 years.ĭouble-murderer Colin Pitchfork will be allowed to leave prison after being jailed for life for strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 19.
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