Killer in our midst: Judges say murderer 'deserves' fresh start as they give him new identity

Victim's relatives slam decision to protect double killer's anonymity

Judges rule killer 'deserves' new identity

TOP judges yesterday granted a killer the right to live among the unsuspecting public with a new name despite describing his two knife murders as “savage and bloodthirsty”.

The Supreme Court ruling grants the double killer anonymity

 The five judges of the Supreme Court unanimously agreed the 46-year-old’s true identity must not be revealed in case it harms his chances of starting a new life. The man, who stabbed to death his ex-girlfriend and her lover, was released from a psychiatric hospital in October.

Controversial ruling ... Lady Hale

 But the judges said he deserved protection because he was “much more likely to lead a successful life if his identity is not generally known.”

The mother of one of the killer’s victims yesterday said the ruling had disgraced the justice system.
She added: “I’m horrified by the judgment. It makes me scared to think he can wander the streets under a new name. He’s free to form relationships with people who might not know his past. It puts the public at risk again.


“I’ve never been able to rebuild my life and nor has my family. But he’s had every chance and every resource you can imagine. “Shame on him. And shame on the criminal justice system for giving him this protection.”

The murderer, referred to as C in court, knifed his former girlfriend and her new lover in 1996. The killer had met her in a psychiatric hospital where there were both receiving treatment. After they split he tracked her down.

He was convicted of murdering them both in 1997 after his plea of not guilty on grounds diminished responsibility was rejected by a jury. The following year he won the right to a retrial but was again convicted of murder.

Then in 2000 the killer, diagnosed with a serious mental disorder, was moved from prison to a secure hospital. He subsequently got his minimum term reduced from 15 years to 11. Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling marks the end of a four-year legal battle.

In July 2012 the killer’s doctors wrote to then Justice Secretary Ken Clarke asking for him to be allowed unescorted leave in the community. Clarke’s successor Chris Grayling threw out the application and two subsequent requests.

The killer’s legal team then asked for a Judicial Review of his case. In January 2014 it was rejected by the High Court, which also said he must not be granted anonymity. The Court of Appeal backed that decision. But he took the case to the Supreme Court.

And yesterday its five judges, Lady Hale, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hughes, backed him. Lady Hale said his crimes were horrendous and caused “incalculable distress to the families of the victims.”

But she added: “There is a long-standing practice that certain classes of people, principally children and mental patients, should not be named in proceedings about their care, treatment and property.
“He is much more likely to be able to lead a successful life in the community if his identity is not generally known.

“The risk of ‘jigsaw’ identification  of people putting two and two together will remain despite the change of name. “Putting all these factors into the balance, I conclude an anonymity order is necessary in the interests of this particular patient.

"His regime before he left hospital, involving escorted leave in the community, demonstrated the need for anonymity and the case is even stronger now. “Without it there is a very real risk that the progress he has made during his long years of treatment in hospital will be put in jeopardy and his re-integration in the community, which was an important purpose of his transfer to hospital, will not succeed.”

Justice campaigner David Hines, who set up the Victim Care group after his daughter Marie was murdered, said: “The decision’s outrageous. “It goes to show the suggestion victims are now at the heart of the criminal justice system could not be further from the truth.

“It makes the rights of C paramount and more important than those of his victim’s family. “Can anyone believe a double-murderer, who has had the best care imaginable, gets better protection than the family of those he killed? His rights are observed and the victims have none.”

The murderer is now under strict life licence conditions. He is currently living in a care home specialising in rehabilitation and has to have psychiatric and psychological treatment.The court hearings and his new identity are estimated to have cost taxpayers around £100,000.