Father of murdered daughter tells LBC his anger at killer being given liberties despite his protest

24 August 2020, 20:01

Father of murdered daughter explains importance of victim statements

By Fiona Jones

This caller told Eddie Mair how his daughter was tragically murdered and despite his meaningful and heartfelt victim statement, the killer was still given open prison status.

Victim Personal Statements were in the news last week after the Manchester Arena bomb plotter refused to listen to the families of the 22 victims during the sentencing.

The killers of PC Andrew Harper also laughed throughout the extremely moving personal statements of his family after the policeman's horrific and untimely death.

Mark's daughter was tragically murdered in 2004 and the killer got a life sentence to serve a minimum of 18 years.

"What that means is...is that having served 18 years you are entitled to apply for parole, it doesn't mean to say that they will get it," Mark said.

"We made statements at the time, how it affected us."

However Mark has had to make more victim statements very recently.

The killer's 18 years will be up on 2 August 2022 but Mark was contacted by the probation service and told that the convict has applied to go to open prison status - meaning he will be allowed out for a number of hours, which could then extend to being allowed out a few days a week.

To challenge this, both Mark and his daughter's mother were given the opportunity to write a victim statement: "I wrote quite a long one...I wanted to put something meaningful down, I didn't just want to rant. I wrote it from the heart."

Sadly the offender's open prison release has been granted nonetheless and within the next few months he will be out to roam the streets.

"We're both very angry, upset, we feel dejected, and within the next three or four months he could be out on the street," Mark said.

More Eddie Mair