Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, two 15 year old girls, were brutally raped and killed by Colin Pitchfork. He raped and murdered Lynda in 1983 and Dawn in 1986. He was the first murderer to be caught with DNA evidence and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 28 years. And now, 29 years later, he is on the loose again.
He confessed after he was arrested and when he was asked why, he just said: “Opportunity. She was there and I was there.” So now after being in prison for the minimum amount of years of his sentence, he has been given new opportunities.
He was allowed to change his surname into Thorpe, to make it even easier for him to be that wolf in sheep's clothing.
Sentenced to life in prison for raping en murdering two children, why would they set him free again? Those two children did not get a second chance at life. And besides that, he only needed the opportunity to rape and kill them then, so what should convince us he will not do it again when the opportunity is there? Why isn’t society protected against these kind of dangerous people, when the sentence was strong enough to do so? Why do murderers and rapists seem to always deserve a second chance?
The European Court of Human Rights (EU) says it is inhumane to put murderers and rapists in prison without any prospect of being released. So there you have one reason for letting Pitchfork go as soon as possible.
What kind of people are the ones who decide to put society in danger in favour of the outlook on life of a convicted rapist killer?
You take a life, you spend your life in prison. That is how you protect society and deal with a murderer.