The justice secretary has asked the Parole Board to reconsider its decision to allow the double child-killer Colin Pitchfork to be released from prison.

Announcing the move, Alex Chalk said it was vital that dangerous offenders be kept behind bars.

Pitchfork, from Leicestershire, was jailed for life and handed a minimum term of 30 years in 1988 for the rape and murder of the 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth.

The minimum term was later reduced to 28 years for good behaviour and he was released in September 2021, but was recalled to prison two months later for breaching his licence conditions.

Last month, the Parole Board said Pitchfork, 63, had “committed shocking, serious offences, causing immeasurable harm to his victims” but that his detention was “no longer necessary for the protection of the public”.

“Mr Pitchfork has completed many courses satisfactorily and the evidence before the panel demonstrated that he had learned the lessons that he had been taught and had worked out how to apply them in practice,” it said.

Chalk said: “My thoughts remain with the families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, whose lives were changed for ever by the heinous crimes of Colin Pitchfork.

“My number one priority is public protection and after careful assessment I have asked the Parole Board to reconsider their decision to release him. It is absolutely vital that every lawful step is taken to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.”

It comes after Alberto Costa, the Conservative MP for South Leicestershire, the constituency in which the killings took place, wrote to Chalk describing it as “simply unthinkable” that Pitchfork should be released and asking him to carry out an “immediate and urgent review”.

Pitchfork’s 2021 release came three years after he was moved to Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire. He was arrested and returned to prison within two months after being accused of approaching a lone female while litter picking.

In its ruling in June, the Parole Board said it was not satisfied that the decision to recall Pitchfork had been appropriate because it was “for the most part, based on unsubstantiated, inaccurate and misleading information”.

The conditions of his second release include requirements that he live at a designated address, be of good behaviour, surrender his passport, attend supervision appointments and disclose any developing relationships.

He must also submit to enhanced supervision, including GPS tagging and a specified curfew, and comply with an unspecified exclusion zone to avoid contact with victims, women and children.

There are plans for ministers to be given the power to veto the release of the most dangerous offenders, a proposal that has been criticised by prison reform charities.

At present, ministers can ask the Parole Board to reconsider a decision to release an offender but cannot overrule it.

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