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Colin Pitchfork

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Colin Pitchfork
Pitchfork booking photograph
Pitchfork after his arrest in September 1987
Born
Colin Pitchfork

(1960-03-23) 23 March 1960 (age 64)
Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, UK
Other namesDavid Thorpe[2]
OccupationBaker
Known forFirst person convicted using DNA evidence
Criminal statusRecalled to prison
Children2
Conviction(s)Murder, rape, sexual assault, perverting the course of justice (22 Jan 1988)[1]
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment
Details
Victims
  • 4+ (sexual assault)
  • 2 (murder)
Span of crimes
1979–1986

Colin Pitchfork (born 23 March 1960) is an English child-murderer and child-rapist. He was the first person convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling after he murdered two girls in neighbouring Leicestershire villages: Lynda Mann in Narborough in November 1983 and Dawn Ashworth in Enderby in July 1986. He was arrested on 19 September 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 January 1988 after pleading guilty to both murders. The sentencing judge gave him a 30-year minimum term (reduced to 28 years on appeal).[1]

He was granted parole in June 2021 and released on licence on 1 September that year. On 19 November the same year, he was recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions. Pitchfork was granted parole a second time in June 2023, but after intervention from the Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk the Parole Board reviewed its decision and decided not to release him.

Life

[edit]

Pitchfork lived at 6 Brascote Lane in Newbold Verdon, attending school in Market Bosworth and Bosworth College in Desford. He was in the 1st Newbold Verdon Scout Group, gaining the Chief Scout's Award in September 1976.[3] He was one of four scouts chosen in Leicestershire to go to the 14th World Scout Jamboree in Norway in August 1975, amongst 1,600 scouts from the UK.[4] Molly Pitchfork, his mother, was the Group Scout Leader.[5][6]

He married a social worker in 1981 and moved to the Leicestershire village of Littlethorpe.[7][8] Before his marriage, Pitchfork had been convicted of indecent exposure and had been referred for therapy to the Carlton Hayes Hospital, Narborough.[9]

Pitchfork had obtained work in Hampshire's Bakery in Leicester, in 1976, as an apprentice. He continued to work there until his arrest for the murders. He became particularly skilled as a sculptor of cake decorations and had hoped, eventually, to start his own cake decorating business. According to his supervisor, he was "a good worker and time-keeper, but he was moody... and he couldn't leave women employees alone. He was always chatting them up."[10]

Crimes

[edit]

In October 1977, he was fined £30 by Market Bosworth magistrates for exposing himself to a schoolgirl, pleading guilty, when aged 17.[11]

In 1979, Pitchfork forced a 16-year-old girl into a field and sexually assaulted her.[12][13]

On 14 February 1980, when aged 20, he exposed himself to two teenage girls in Earl Shilton, and was given a year's probation by Hinckley magistrates.[14][15]

On 21 November 1983, 15-year-old Lynda Mann took a shortcut on her way home from babysitting instead of taking her normal route home.[7] She did not return and her parents and neighbours spent the night searching for her. The next morning, she was found raped and strangled on a deserted footpath known locally as the Black Pad. Using forensic science techniques available at the time, police linked a semen sample taken from her body to a person with type A blood and an enzyme profile that matched only 10% of males. With no other leads or evidence, the case was left open.[8]

In October 1985, Pitchfork sexually assaulted another 16-year-old girl, threatening her with a screwdriver and with a knife at her throat.[12][13]

Liz Knight was picked up by Pitchfork on a Saturday in June 1986 and driven for 40 minutes from Wigston towards Great Glen. When she grabbed the steering wheel, Pitchfork's demeanour suddenly changed, and he decided to drive to her house, and not attack. Pitchfork put his hand on her knee, saying: "I haven't hurt you yet." Pitchfork dropped Knight at her house, asking, "How about a goodnight kiss?" which she refused. Pitchfork said, "I bet you would never accept a lift from a stranger again."[16]

On 31 July 1986, 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth left her home to visit a friend's house.[7] Her parents expected her to return at 9:30 pm; when she failed to do so they called police to report her missing. Two days later, her body was found in a wooded area near a footpath called Ten Pound Lane.[7] She had been beaten, savagely raped, and strangled. The modus operandi matched that of the first attack, and semen samples revealed the same blood type.[7] Both girls had attended Brockington High School.[17] Dawn's mother worked at Next plc in Enderby; George Davies offered a £10,000 reward.

An initial suspect was Richard Buckland, a local 17-year-old with learning difficulties who, while innocent of both murders, revealed knowledge of Ashworth's body and admitted to the Ashworth crime under questioning, denying the first murder.[18]

Arrest and conviction

[edit]

In early 1987, police asked every local male between the ages of 16 and 34 to voluntarily give blood samples for DNA testing. By the end of January, a thousand men had been tested. Men who declined to give blood samples found themselves under scrutiny by police.[9]

The pub where Ian Kelly admitted, on Saturday 1 August 1987, that he had taken the test

According to 1988 news reports, one of Pitchfork's colleagues at the bakery, 23-year-old Ian Kelly, who lived outside the area under investigation, was overheard in a pub discussing how he had provided a blood sample for Pitchfork, by using a fake passport to masquerade as Pitchfork. He had agreed to do this in exchange for £200, and taken the test on 29 January 1987.[19] The conversation, during the lunchtime of Saturday, 1 August 1987, was overheard by other bakery colleagues, and 28-year-old Jackie Foggin (née Tyson), of Fleckney, reported it to the police.[20] This vital tip-off was later credited with enabling Pitchfork to be caught. Pitchfork had told Kelly that he wanted to avoid being harassed by police because of his prior convictions for indecent exposure. [9] Kelly was arrested at 31 Stuart Street in Leicester on Friday, 18 September.

On Saturday, 19 September 1987, Pitchfork was arrested[21] at 32 Haybarn Close, in Littlethorpe, by Detective Inspector Mick Thomas. Pitchfork's wife tried to attack him, when he told her that he had killed two girls.[22]

During questioning, Pitchfork admitted to exposing himself to more than 1,000 women, a compulsion that began in his early teens. He later progressed to sexual assault and then to strangling his victims. Pitchfork said this was in order to protect his identity. Investigators rejected this, viewing the motivation for the strangulations as "perverted sadism".[13] During his interviews with the police he admitted his crimes, but lied about the level and nature of the violence he had inflicted on his victims.[8]

At his trial at Leicester Crown Court, Pitchfork pleaded guilty to the two rapes and murders, in addition to sexual assault of two other girls, and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.[1][23] In January 1988 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the two murders and 10 years for raping the victims; he was also sentenced to three years for each count of sexual assault and three years for perverting the course of justice, with all sentences to run concurrently.[1][23] A psychiatric report prepared for the court described Pitchfork as possessing a psychopathic personality disorder accompanied with a serious psychosexual pathology.[13] The Lord Chief Justice at the time of his sentencing said: "From the point of view of the safety of the public I doubt if he should ever be released."[24] The Secretary of State set a minimum term of 30 years; in 2009, Pitchfork's minimum term sentence was reduced on appeal to 28 years.[25]

Parole reviews

[edit]

On 22 April 2016, the Parole Board for England and Wales heard Pitchfork's case for early release on parole.[24] Pitchfork's advocates presented evidence of his improved character, noting that Pitchfork had furthered his education to degree level and had become expert at the transcription of printed music into braille, for the benefit of blind people.[26] The families of victims Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth opposed his release on parole.[24]

On 29 April 2016, the board announced that Pitchfork's application for release on licence had been refused, but recommended that he be moved to an open prison.[26] In June 2016, Michael Gove, then Justice Secretary, agreed with the board's recommendation,[27] and at some point prior to 8 January 2017, Pitchfork was moved to an undisclosed open prison.[28]

In November 2017, Pitchfork was seen walking around Bristol, so it was assumed that he had been moved to HM Prison Leyhill in Gloucestershire.[29]

On 3 May 2018, Pitchfork was refused release on licence. The Parole Board said Pitchfork would be eligible for a further review within two years. Lynda's mother said the board had "listened to us before the murderer". In 2017, it emerged Pitchfork would be released from open prison on unsupervised days out.[30]

2021: release and recall

[edit]

On 7 June 2021, Pitchfork was granted release on conditional licence. The Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland, applied for a review of the decision under the terms of the Parole Board Reconsideration Mechanism, introduced in 2019, and Pitchfork remained in custody pending the outcome.[31][32] On 13 July 2021, it was reported that the review had been refused and that Pitchfork would therefore be released.[33] He was released on 1 September 2021.[34]

In November 2021, Pitchfork was recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions by "approaching young women" while on walks from his bail hostel.[35][36] His second victim's mother, Barbara Ashworth, told BBC News that she was pleased "he's been put away and women and girls are safe and protected from him now".[37] There are complaints that the Parole Board was insufficiently cautious in allowing Pitchfork's release. Justice Secretary Dominic Raab promised a Parole Board review. David Baker, a former police detective who helped capture Pitchfork, believes Pitchfork could deceive the Parole Board and pretend it was safe to release him. Baker maintains Pitchfork is a psychopath and it will never be safe to release him.[38]

2023: consideration for release

[edit]

The Parole Board's hearing to consider releasing Pitchfork again was postponed to 2023.[39] His potential release was opposed by MP Alberto Costa.[40]

In June 2023 it was announced that Pitchfork would again be released under parole.[41] The decision was widely criticised.[42] In July 2023, the Lord Chancellor intervened and ordered that the board reconsider their decision after a huge public outcry, particularly since Pitchfork breached his licence conditions within weeks of his initial release.[43] Pitchfork's new parole hearing took place on 2 and 3 October 2023.[44] In December 2023, parole was denied, meaning that Pitchfork would remain in prison.[45]

2024 review

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Pitchfork challenged the Parole Board's decision on procedural grounds, and in February 2024 the Board agreed to schedule another hearing before a different panel to consider his potential release.[46] On 16th May 2024, the Parole Board Chair, Caroline Corby, reversed an earlier decision that Pitchfork's parole hearing should be held behind closed doors; the next hearing was broadcast due to public interest. There will be a preliminary hearing behind closed doors to address "practical matters".[47]

Artwork

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In April 2009, a sculpture that Pitchfork had created in prison and which was exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall, Bringing the Music to Life, depicted an orchestra and choir. The sculpture was exhibited as part of a venture by the Koestler Trust, having been purchased by the Festival Hall for £600. Following outrage in the media and from victim-advocate groups, it was removed from display.[48]

[edit]

Pitchfork’s crimes were originally chronicled in the 1989 book The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh.[8]

Pitchfork's crimes were aired on the American true crime series Forensic Files in October 1996.[citation needed]

The killings featured in a 2002 episode of Real Crime "Cracking the Killer's Code". Pitchfork was played by John Duttine.[citation needed]

In 2014, ITV commissioned a two-part television drama, Code of a Killer, based on Pitchfork's crimes and the creation of DNA profiling. It starred John Simm as researcher Alec Jeffreys and David Threlfall as David Baker, the lead police detective.[49] Pitchfork was played by Nathan Wright. The drama was the first broadcast in two 90-minute episodes, on 6 and 13 April 2015. It was subsequently reformatted as three episodes and released on DVD.

Pitchfork's crimes are also the focus of an episode of the Sky series How I Caught the Killer.[50]

See also

[edit]
  • Beenham murders – led to one of the first voluntary mass blood tests in UK criminal history in 1966, and led to a similar outcome as in the Pitchfork case when the killer originally avoided the test before eventually being caught
  • Murder of June Anne Devaney – led to the first mass fingerprinting initiative in British history in 1948
  • Kirk Bloodsworth – the first American sentenced to death to be exonerated post-conviction by DNA testing
  • Patrick Mackay – a British serial killer who confessed to have murdered up to 13 people, who has been considered for release since 1995
  • Allan Grimson – British double murderer believed to have murdered up to 22 people, whose release is imminent
  • John Cannan – murderer and suspected killer of Suzy Lamplugh, eligible for parole in 2022

UK cold cases where the offender's DNA is now known:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Corby, Caroline (2 March 2023). Application for a Public Hearing in the case of Mr Colin Pitchfork (PDF) (Report). 3rd Floor, 10 South Colonnade, London: Parole Board for England and Wales. p. 8. Retrieved 14 March 2024.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. ^ Fiorillo, Chiara (2 September 2021). "Child killer Colin Pitchfork 'using new name' but must confess crimes to new girlfriend". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024. The 61-year-old, who raped and killed two schoolgirls in the 1980s, is said to have been calling himself David Thorpe behind bars in HMP Leyhill.
  3. ^ Leicester Mercury Friday 10 September 1976, page 8
  4. ^ Hinckley Times Friday 25 July 1975, page 6
  5. ^ Hinckley Times Friday 8 April 1983, page 8
  6. ^ Hinckley Times Friday 31 August 1984, page 17
  7. ^ a b c d e "Everything you need to know about child murderer Colin Pitchfork and his release from prison on parole". www.scotsman.com. 13 July 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d Wambaugh, Joseph (1 March 1995). The Blooding: The Dramatic True Story of the First Murder Case Solved by Genetic "Fingerprinting". Bantam. ISBN 978-0-553-76330-0.
  9. ^ a b c Evans, Colin (1998). The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes. London: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 62. ISBN 978-0471283690.
  10. ^ Wambaugh, Joseph (29 November 2011). The Blooding. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781453234235.
  11. ^ Leicester Mercury Wednesday 19 October 1977, page 21
  12. ^ a b "Murderer who raped and killed two schoolgirls to be released after government loses legal challenge". The Independent. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d "Pitchfork, R v [2009] EWCA Crim 963 (14 May 2009)".
  14. ^ Leicester Mercury Friday 11 April 1980, page 13
  15. ^ Hinckley Times Friday 18 April 1980, page 5
  16. ^ Leicester Mercury Saturday 23 January 1988, page 10
  17. ^ Leicester Mercury Saturday 22 November 1986, page 10
  18. ^ Graff, Vincent (6 April 2015). "Code of a Killer: the true story of the first case solved by DNA". www.radiotimes.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  19. ^ Leicester Mercury Friday 22 January 1988, page 1
  20. ^ Leicester Mercury Monday 16 May 1988, page 24
  21. ^ "Memories of Colin Pitchfork's second murder - 30 years on". Leicester Mercury. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  22. ^ Leicester Mercury Saturday 23 January 1988, page 10
  23. ^ a b Hoyland, Paul (23 January 1988). "Genetic test traps girls' killer". The Guardian. p. 1. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  24. ^ a b c Shaw, Danny (27 April 2015). "'DNA' child killer Colin Pitchfork gets parole review". BBC News. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  25. ^ Pitchfork, R v [2009] EWCA Crim 963
  26. ^ a b "No parole for Colin Pitchfork: First killer caught by DNA". BBC News. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  27. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: First killer caught by DNA "should move to open prison"". BBC News. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  28. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Fears after child killer moved to open prison". BBC News. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  29. ^ Davies, Natasha (13 November 2017). "Child killer allowed to go shopping on his own in Bristol city centre". Bristol Post. Bristol: Local World. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  30. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double child killer denied parole". BBC News. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  31. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double schoolgirl murderer can be released". BBC News. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  32. ^ "Double child murderer Colin Pitchfork to be released from prison despite Government challenge". inews.co.uk. 13 July 2021.
  33. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double child killer's release confirmed". BBC. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Double child killer Colin Pitchfork has been released from prison". The Daily Telegraph. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  35. ^ "Colin Pitchfork recalled to jail after approaching young women". BBC News. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  36. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double child killer arrested and recalled to prison after 'breaching licence conditions'". Sky News. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  37. ^ "Double child killer Colin Pitchfork sent back to prison". BBC News. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  38. ^ Colin Pitchfork: Justice Secretary Dominic Raab pledges parole review BBC
  39. ^ Richardson, Hannah (8 December 2022). "Child-killer Colin Pitchfork's parole hearing delayed again". LeicestershireLive. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  40. ^ Colin Pitchfork: Parole hearing for double child killer and rapist BBC
  41. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double child killer and rapist to be released". BBC News. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  42. ^ "Colin Pitchfork: Double child killer and rapist to be released". BBC News. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  43. ^ "Who is Colin Pitchfork?". SkyNews. 27 July 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  44. ^ Watson, Greig (15 September 2023). "Colin Pitchfork: Date set for double child killer's parole hearing". BBC News.
  45. ^ Parke, Callum (7 December 2023). "Double child killer denied prison release". Evening Standard.
  46. ^ Booth, Rick (12 February 2024). "Double child rapist and murderer Colin Pitchfork to have fresh parole hearing". The Independent.
  47. ^ "Application for a Public Hearing in the case of Mr Colin Pitchfork" (PDF). the Parole Board. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  48. ^ "Anger over child killer's artwork". BBC News. 9 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  49. ^ Marlow, Lee (31 October 2014). "Code of a Killer: ITV film crew shoot in Leicester for two part drama on how DNA profiling snared double-child killer". Leicester Mercury. Leicester: Local World. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  50. ^ "How I Caught The Killer". Sky.

Cited works and further reading

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