Pitchfork is proof you can be a serial harasser of women, a raper and murderer of children and still not spend the rest of your life behind bars. Which begs the question...what the fuck?
On 21st November 1983, Colin Pitchfork, dropped his wife off at an evening class and whilst their infant son was asleep in the back of their car, he would violently rape 15-year-old Lynda Man, before strangling her to death with her own scarf. Her body would be found the next morning on a footpath known locally as "the black pad." She was 300 metres from her home.
On 31st July 1986, Dawn Ashworth, 15, would also be violently raped, beaten and strangled to death by Pitchfork. Her body was found 14 hours later on Ten Pound Lane. It was a violent attack, Dawn had fought with everything she had but was ultimately no match for the sadistic, 26-year-old baker, who had ambitions to open a cake decorating business.
A local 17-year-old, Richard Buckland, would become a suspect due to the fact he had knowledge of the murder, that the general public would not have had. When questioned, Buckland confessed to Dawn's murder but maintained his innocence in regard to the murder of Lynda.
The attacks, although years apart, were identical in the details and Police were almost certain that they had been carried out by the same man and that Buckland was lying about not being responsible for both attacks.
Buckland was charged with Dawn's murder on 10th August 1986 and the police would take unprecedented steps, in the hope of charging Buckland with Lynda's murder as well.
Breakthrough
Detective Chief Superintendent David Baker would reach out to Jeffreys to enquire if he could help with the investigation and "whether his new science could prove that the youth had murdered Lynda as well as Dawn."
Jeffreys was eager to help and the results of his tests would prove to be a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, they proved that the police were indeed correct in their suspicions, the same man had been responsible for both attacks.
On the other hand, they showed that Buckland was not their culprit.
The 17-year-old, who had learning difficulties, would become the first suspect in the world to be cleared on the basis of DNA profiling.
It Takes A Village
The police actively encouraged all local men, who were aged between 18 & 34 and who lived within a 5-mile radius of the crime scenes, to provide a small blood/saliva sample.
Whilst it was voluntary, anyone who refused would be questioned as to why.
Within 8 months over 5000 men had submitted their samples but the police had not gotten a hit. They were close to throwing in the towel and admitting defeat with this rather expensive endeavour when they finally got the break they needed.
Loose Lips Sink Ships
As far as records would show, Pitchfork had already provided his DNA sample and had been ruled out as a suspect.
This, however, was not entirely true.
Pitchfork had enlisted the help of Ian Kelly, a colleague at the bakery where he worked, to provide a DNA sample for him. Pitchfork had waited in the car outside, whilst Kelly, armed with doctored identification, went inside. This little ruse would help Pitchfork evade capture but not for long.
On 1 August 1987, Kelly was drinking at his local pub, The Clarendon, when he drunkenly & quite loudly, confessed to the deception, he claimed he had been paid £200 to go through with it all.
On 16th September 1987, a young woman who had overheard Kelly came forward, telling police what she had heard.
The jig was up and Pitchfork would be arrested on 19th September 1987.
Confessions
Once arrested, Pitchfork readily admitted his guilt and
Pitchfork would confess to indecently exposing himself to over 1000 women. Something he had been doing
since his teens and that he had received “treatment” for.
It would come to light that in February 1979, he had started a sex attack on a 16-year-old girl, forcing his hands down her pants, although he got spooked that someone was coming and he ran off.
It would also be revealed that in October 1985, he had committed oral rape on another 16-year-old girl, holding a screwdriver to her throat throughout the attack. He told her he would kill her if she ever talked.
Sadist
In January 1988:
Despite his confessions, he still made attempts to play down the severity of his actions and insisted the only reason he strangled the girls was to ensure they could not identify him and not due to any sadistic sexual urges.
This was at odds with the psychiatric report which concluded that he had a "personality disorder of psychopathic type accompanied by serious psychosexual pathology."
And it was also at odds with the forensic evidence, Pitchfork had raped Dawn so violently he split her vagina & perineum. He had strangled her as he raped her and it was entirely possible that the rape had continued after she had died.
Colleagues would reveal that he could not leave women alone and would always be harassing them in some way, or, as it was also out “always chatting them up.”.
Pitchfork was found guilty and received two life sentences in January 1988.
He would become the first murderer in the world to be convicted with DNA used as evidence.
Release
Pitchfork was released from prison on 1st September 2021, aged 61. Usually, upon release, prisoners are subject to 7 license conditions. Pitchfork is subject to 43.
Pitchfork will have to live at a pre-designated address, under a strict curfew, with limitations on his use of technology. He will have to undergo regular lie detector tests, be electronically tagged and subject to restrictions on who he can and cannot see, especially when children are involved. He will also have to provide information on any vehicles he has access to.
He can, and he will be recalled to prison as soon as any of these conditions are broken.
One can't help but ask if a prisoner is subject to such stringent rules, whether he can be trusted at all?
For me, it suggests that he is not rehabilitated and therefore cannot be trusted and maybe, just maybe, he should have not been released.
As Dawns Uncle Philip says
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