Colin Pitchfork is a British double child murderer and rapist. He is the first person to be convicted of rape and murder using DNA profiling for the murder of two girls in neighboring Leicestershire villages. The first murder in Narborough in November 1983 and the second in Enderby in the summer of July 1986. Pitchfork’s case was a historic moment for justice in Britain and DNA evidence profiling.
A year later, thanks to DNA profiling, on 19 September 1987, he was arrested. He pleaded guilty to both murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 January 1988, with the judge giving him a 30-year minimum term (only for Pitchfork to challenge the minimum term and see it reduced to 28 years on appeal). In June 2021, he was granted parole and was released on his license on 1 September that year. However, on 19 November the same year, he was recalled to prison for breach of license conditions.
Early Life and Family
Pitchfork was born on 23 March 1960. He was born to a family of three children who lived in the village of Newbold Verdon in Leicestershire. Pitchfork was the middle child and had an older sister and a younger brother.
He attended school in Market Bosworth and Desford while living in Desford. Pitchfork left school in 1976 and started working as an apprentice in Hampshires Bakery at Leicester, and he worked there until his arrest in September 1987. He became exceptionally skilled as a cake decoration sculptor and had hoped to start his own cake decorating business eventually. 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.”
He met with his wife, Carol Pitchfork, a social worker while doing voluntary work in a children’s home. In 1981, they got married, and the couple started living together in Littlethorpe, Leichester, after their marriage. The couple had two children. In 1983 he had a son. He had another son in 1986.
Even Before his marriage, Pitchfork had been convicted of indecent exposure and referred him for therapy at the Carlton Hayes Hospital, Narborough.
Crimes
One afternoon, in February 1979, he had attacked a 16-year-old schoolgirl walking home in a country lane. He came up from behind, grabbing her by the neck as she passed the gateway where he was standing. He forcefully dragged her into the field, undid her clothing, and put his hand down the front of her jeans. Then, he desisted and abruptly ran off in the middle of the attack — believing that someone was approaching and might discover him.
On 21 November 1983, Lynda Mann, a 15-year-old school girl, took a shortcut on her way home from visiting her friend instead of taking her regular route home. The same evening Colin Pitchfork was left in charge of his baby son. He was driving his car with his baby son in the back seat when he saw Lynda walking along Forest Road near the Black pad footpath in Narborough. Pitchfork parked his car, leaving the baby inside; then, he exposed himself to her and took her away from the footpath. He attacked her, removed all her clothes waist down, and then raped her before strangulating her to death with her own scarf. Throughout the incident, his baby was asleep in the back of his car parked nearby.
In October 1985, two years after murdering Lynda Mann, Pitchfork attacked a 16-year-old trainee hairdresser walking home at night in Wigston, another Leicestershire village a few miles east of Narborough. Pitchfork approached her from behind and dragged her towards a dark corner near a row of garages with a screwdriver held to her neck. He committed oral rape and left her at the scene, threatening that he would return and find her if she said anything.
On 31 July 1986, a second 15-year-old girl, Dawn Ashworth, left her home to visit a friend’s house. Dawn entered a footpath to Enderby called Ten Pound Lane. Colin Pitchfork was riding a motorbike, and he saw Dawn as she entered the footpath. Pitchfork parked his motorbike and followed the schoolgirl. He caught up with Dawn and exposed himself to her. Dawn ran from him. Colin Pitchfork went after her and grabbed her. He raped Dawn in a field next to the footpath.
Two days later, her body was found in a wooded area near a footpath called Ten Pound Lane. She was naked from the waist down, and had been beaten, savagely raped, and strangled. The pathologist described a “brutal sexual attack” based on bruising and other bodily damage. The modus operandi matched the first murder attack, and semen samples revealed the same blood type.
In 1987, again in Wigston, he stalked another 17-year-old and offered her a lift. The teenager grabbed the steering wheel when it became clear that he was driving her in the wrong direction. After a struggle that saw his car nearly crash, Pitchfork released her.
Initially, police believed the rapist and murderer to be a local 17-year-old, Richard Burkland, with learning difficulties, who appeared to know of Dawn’s body and even admitted to Dawn’s murder under questioning but denied the first murder.
The attacks, although years apart, were identical in details, and police were almost sure that the same man had carried them out and that Buckland was lying about not being responsible for both attacks.
Buckland was charged with Dawn’s murder on 10 August 1986, and the police would also take unprecedented steps in the hope of charging Buckland with Lynda’s murder.
The Breakthrough: DNA profiling
In 1985, at the University of Leicester, Alec Jeffreys and his team first developed DNA profiling, a promising new technique allowing a unique DNA ‘fingerprint’ to be produced from a DNA sample. Eager to put the new method to use, the DNA fingerprinting technique was utilized.
Using this technique, Jeffreys compared semen samples from both murder victims against a blood sample from Buckland and conclusively proved that the same man killed both girls, but not Buckland.
Richard Burkland was eventually released after three months in custody, On 21 November 1986, and would become the first suspect in the world to be cleared based on DNA profiling. And the police were back at square one in their hunt for a highly dangerous double killer.
The Beginning of the Manhunt:
The following month, the detectives decided that the technology that exonerated Buckland could be used to catch the killer. Thus, in January 1987, the first-ever mass DNA screening began. The police and forensic scientists screened blood and saliva samples from men aged between 17 and 34 living in Enderby, Narborough, and nearby Littlethorpe villages who did not have an alibi for the murders.
Arrest and conviction
In August that year, more than a year after the killing of Dawn, On 1 August 1987, one of Pitchfork’s colleagues at the bakery where he worked, Ian Kelly, revealed to fellow members in a Leicester pub that he had obtained £200 for taking the blood test while masquerading as Pitchfork. The latter had told Kelly that he wanted to avoid being harassed by police because of prior convictions for indecent exposure. However, a woman who overheard their conversation reported it to the police. As a result, on 19 September 1987, Pitchfork was arrested.
It was also relieved that Pitchfork had doctored his passport, inserting Kelly’s photograph. Pitchfork had waited outside the car while Kelly went inside armed with doctored identification to provide the blood sample for DNA analysis.
Confessions:
He confessed to the two rape/murders and another incident of sexual assault. He admitted to the rape and murder of the two girls. During subsequent questioning, Pitchfork admitted to exposing himself to more than 1,000 women, a compulsion that he had started in his early teens. He later progressed to sexual assault and strangling his victims to protect his identity.
The Trial of Colin Pitchfork 1988
Colin Pitchfork was brought to trial for his evil crimes on 22 January 1988 at Leicester Crown Court. The trial was a short one as Pitchfork pleaded guilty. He pleaded guilty to the two rape/murders and another incident of sexual assault and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the two murders and 10 years for the two rapes. Additionally, Colin Pitchfork was sentenced to 3 years for the two indecent assaults. He was also given three years for the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice (by avoiding giving a DNA sample).
At the time of his sentencing, the Lord Chief Justice said: “From the point of view of the safety of the public, I doubt if he should ever be released.”
The Appeal by Colin Pitchfork, 2009
Eventually, in 1994, the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, decided Colin Pitchfork should spend at least 30 years in prison. In 2008, a judge reviewed the 30-year sentence given to Pitchfork, but he refused to reduce it.
The judge, Mr. Justice Grigson, said: ‘In my judgment, it would be wholly inappropriate for me to reduce what I regard as a modest sentence for truly horrific crimes.’
However, in December 2008, Colin Pitchfork was given leave to appeal against his minimum sentence of 30 years. The appeal by Pitchfork began on 30 April 2009 and ended on 14 May. Unfortunately, his minimum sentence was reduced from 30 years to 28.
The Secretary of State set a minimum term of 30 years; in 2009, Pitchfork’s sentence was reduced on appeal to 28 years.
Parole
On 22 April 2016, the Parole Board for England and Wales heard Pitchfork’s case for early release on parole. Pitchfork’s advocates presented evidence of his improved character, noting that Pitchfork had furthered his education to a degree level and had become an expert at the transcription of printed music into Braille for the benefit of the blind. However, the families of victims Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth opposed his release on parole.
On 29 April 2016, the Parole Board announced that Pitchfork’s petition for parole had been denied, but they recommended that Pitchfork be moved to an open prison. In June 2016, Michael Gove, then serving as Justice Secretary, agreed with the board’s recommendation, and at some point before 8 January 2017, Pitchfork was moved to an undisclosed open prison.
The Parole Board denied parole in 2018. However, he may be eligible for parole again in 2020.
On 3 May 2018, Pitchfork was denied parole again. However, the Parole Board said Pitchfork would be eligible for a further review within two years (in 2020).
Release
Pitchfork was released from prison on 1 September 2021, aged 61, after 33 years in jail. Usually, upon release, prisoners are subject to 7 license conditions. Instead, Pitchfork is subject to 43 license conditions to which Pitchfork will have to abide, including tagging, polygraph testing, extensive exclusion zones, bans on contact with children and victims, and restrictions on electronic devices and vehicle use. He can and will be recalled to prison as soon as any of these conditions are broken.
A document outlining the decision said: “After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody, and the evidence presented at the hearing, the panel was satisfied that Mr. Pitchfork was suitable for release.”
The Parole Board has faced much criticism from victims’ families, other people, and politicians for this decision.
Aftermath and Recall to Prison:
In November 2021, just two months after his release, Pitchfork was recalled to prison for breaching his license conditions by “approaching young women” while on walks from his bail hostel. However, he had committed no offenses since his release.
In autumn 2022, the Parole Board is to consider rereleasing Pitchfork. The options available will be to refuse his release, grant release, or recommend he move from a closed prison to an open prison.
Should he be rereleased? What’s your opinion? Leave a comment in the comment section.
