If our mum's killer is set free we fear no woman will be safe

THREE siblings whose mother was murdered by a convicted rapist were horrified to learn the fiend could soon be released from prison.

- AMANDA KILLELEA

When Victor Farrant was jailed for life in 1998 for the murder of Glenda Hoskins and the attempted murder of another woman, Mr Justice Butterfield told him: "This murder was so terrible and you are so dangerous that in your case the sentence of life imprisonment means just that.

"You will never be released." But 26 years on, Glenda's children David, Katie and Iain - who were 13, 15 and 21 when she was killed - have been devastated by news from a victim liaison officer that Farrant could be released on compassionate grounds because he has terminal cancer.

They have heard a meeting to discuss his release, so he could be cared for outside jail, is due on April 10.

The furious family are now calling for a change in the law to prevent the early release of prisoners on compassionate grounds if a judge has declared that they should never leave prison.

Iain, 47, a Liverpool restaurateur, said: "When Farrant was jailed he was deemed so dangerous he was talked about in the same way as Rose West, Peter Sutcliffe and Myra Hindley.

"The sentencing judge said he would never be released.

RIGHTS

"But now we are told he has terminal cancer and could be released within weeks. No one has told us where he will go or how ill he is. Does he have weeks to live and will go straight to a hospice?

"Or is he still well enough to walk the streets? After all, he has nothing to lose - if he is fit enough he could think, 'One more rape or one more kill'.

"We have been given just a couple of weeks' notice. That isn't enough time to process the news, let alone campaign for him to be kept behind bars. It's like the authorities are putting his rights above ours.

"He is potentially being released into the outside world after all these years, outside the conditions of parole where psychological evaluations happen.