A notorious serial rapist who targeted women in their own homes will still be released from prison despite opposition from the Justice Secretary.
Andrew Barlow, formerly known as Longmire, from Bolton committed a string of horrific sex offences during the 1980s.
A decision to release him from prison sparked opposition going all the way up to Justice Secretary Dominic Raab MP, but the parole board has rejected an application to cancel Barlow’s scheduled release, saying a correct ‘test’ was carried out.
A statement from the board said: “The whole panel would be aware of the correct test and the panel was chaired by a very experienced retired Judge who also has considerable experience of parole hearings and applying the statutory test.”
Barlow, now 66, has been in prison since 1988 when he received 11 life sentences for rapes, all committed in that decade.
He was also convicted of three attempted rapes and a range of other offenses.
Barlow was dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’ because many of his crimes had involved targeted women in brick built terraced houses reminiscent of the television drama’s setting.
The serial rapist is said to have threated his victims with weapons and in some cases attacked them while their children were still at home.
He was convicted of another two rapes, again carried out in the 1980s, when he was brough back before the courts in 2010 and 2017.
His most recent life sentence was handed down after Barlow pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl at knife point at her home in Great Lever in 1982.
The parole board’s decision to release Barlow, announced in last December, has sparked wide spread opposition with veteran Labour MP Graham Stringer putting questions to the House of Commons on the matter.
Mr Raab, who is also deputy prime minister, applied to the parole board on January 17 to reconsider its decision arguing that the panel which sanctioned Barlow’s release ;failed to take proper account of the evidence regarding risk and in particular the expert psychology evidence.’
This was based on slightly differing reports from two psychologists about the safety of Barlow’s release.
One of them declared him safe, while the other said he should be ‘further tested in open jail’ before being confirmed for release.
But the parole board has now rejected Mr Raab’s application, saying that ‘there has been no misdirection of law’ and the panel had considered ‘all the evidence.’
It said members of the panel favoured the report of the former psychologist, and ‘it was entitled to reach that conclusion.’
The board added that Barlow’s ‘risk management plan with its extensive list of conditions’ would be ‘sufficiently robust’ to manage his return to the community.
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The Ministry of Justice has pledged that officials will look into possible reforms as a result.
A spokesperson said Barlow’s case ‘emphasises the need for reform of the parole system’ and ‘ministerial oversight of the most serious cases.’
The decision to release Barlow may yet be challenged in the high court.
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