Colin Pitchfork: Double killer will not be on sex offenders register
PA MediaA man who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls will not be placed on the sex offenders register when he is released.
The Ministry of Justice said it was because Colin Pitchfork's crimes were committed before 1997, when the register was introduced.
It said he would be subject to conditions "far stricter" than those imposed on registered sex offenders.
These will include GPS tagging and regular polygraph examinations.
A government spokesperson said their "thoughts remain with the families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth", the two girls raped and strangled by Pitchfork in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.
"Colin Pitchfork will be on licence for life and subject to supervision and conditions far stricter than the sex offenders register," the spokesperson said.
"If he breaches these, he faces being sent back to prison."
Pitchfork, now 61, was the first murderer to be convicted using DNA evidence and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988. The judge said the killings were "particularly sadistic" and he doubted Pitchfork would ever be released.
However, the Parole Board said last month that he was suitable for release.
This led to a challenge by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, but this was refused by a judge-led review.
Pitchfork is being kept in prison until final arrangements, such as where he is going to be housed, are completed.
When he is freed, he will have regular meetings with his probation officer, which is standard for those released on licence.
Pitchfork's additional conditions include measures to protect his victims' families from unwanted contact with him.
Like all prisoners released on licence, he can be recalled to prison if he breaches his conditions.
At the time the Justice Secretary Robert Buckland's challenge was refused, Dawn's uncle Philip Musson said: "It sends the message that child rapists, killers, murderers can at some point in time resume their lives when they themselves have deprived their victims of their lives.
"That's an unacceptable position as far as I'm concerned."
