Alberto has been informed by the Parole Board that Colin Pitchfork will remain behind bars as he still poses a risk to public safety. After years of campaigning to keep this man behind bars, Mr Costa was delighted with the news.
Earlier this year Mr Costa successfully appealed to Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk MP, to apply for the for the Parole Board to reconsider its controversial June 2023 decision to release Pitchfork. In October 2023, a Parole Board panel of new members assembled to reconsider the decision to release Pitchfork. Mr Costa has today welcomed the Parole Board's decision not to release Colin Pitchfork on the basis that he cannot be safely released in to the community.
Colin Pitchfork was found guilty of raping and brutally murdering two teenage girls in the 1980s and was the first person in the world to be convicted using DNA evidence. The families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, the two Leicestershire schoolgirls raped and murdered by Pitchfork, have been notified of the Parole Board's decision.
Alberto, since his election in 2015, has campaigned tirelessly to ensure Colin Pitchfork remains in prison due to the appalling nature of his crimes. The Board has already once granted parole to Mr Pitchfork in 2021 but after breaching the conditions of his licence he was swiftly recalled to prison.
Mr Costa Said:
"I am pleased with the Parole Board's new decision and I am grateful to Alex Chalk MP, Justice Secretary, for listening to me and the people of South Leicestershire and applying to have this case reconsidered. This is welcome news for my constituents and the families of Dawn and Lynda whose suffering will ultimately always outweigh Pitchfork’s punishment.
Since I was first elected in 2015, I have been working with my team to see that Pitchfork remains in prison because I have no interest in gambling on the safety of women and girls in South Leicestershire so a convicted murderer and rapist can live in the community.
A man capable of committing such horrific crimes, now only in his early 60s, has no place in the community where he remains a clear risk and I will continue to make that case. Under today’s laws Colin Pitchfork’s crimes would likely see him spend his entire natural life in prison and today’s decision is another step closer to that reality.”
