Man who killed and raped two 15-year-olds in Leicestershire awaits Parole Board decision
Colin Pitchfork was sentenced to a 30-year minimum term in 1988.
The Parole Board deciding whether a man who raped and killed two schoolgirls can be freed from jail.
Colin Pitchfork was jailed for life after strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.
He became the first man convicted of murder on the basis of DNA evidence and was given a 30-year minimum term when sentenced at Leicester Crown Court in 1988.
He was eventually caught after the world's first mass screening for DNA - where 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples.
Pitchfork pleaded guilty to two offences of murder, two of rape, two of indecent assault and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. His minimum term was cut by two years in 2009.
Although he was denied parole in 2016 and in 2018, Pitchfork was moved to an open prison three years ago.
A Parole Board spokesman said: The panel will carefully examine a whole range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.''
Speaking to Gem South Leicestershire MP Alberto Costa, who has made his own submission to the hearing said: "We do have a rehabilitation process in our country, and it's right we have parole hearings. I've been raising the question which I think your listeners would ask; Is it ever morally and ethically viable to release somebody who has committed such egregious crimes?"
"This isn't the first parole hearing he's having, and I don't want it to be the last one. I am trying my very best to ensure the parole board give the guarantee that I want, which is that none of my constituents, indeed, nobody in our country is put at risk should they choose, wrongly in my view, to release this individual.."
It is understood a decision on the latest Parole Board review, which began on Monday, could take up to 14 days to be made due to the complexity of the case.