Colin Pitchfork is a baker who made the news as a child killer who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth. After he was found guilty, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1988. While his sentencing was not seen as punishment enough by the victims’ families, subsequent decisions to release him starting from 2016 to the present attempt in 2023 have been met with stiff resistance.
As it is, the unfortunate demise of the two teenage girls has left their families in pain. Yet, the UK parole board is likely going to release him. Here is all we found about the case and his planned release.
Colin Pitchfork’s Early Life, Age, and Background
Colin Pitchfork is 64-years old and we know this because he was born on March 23, 1960. He hails from Newbold Verdon, Leicestershire in the UK. He attended school at Market Bosworth and Desford. In order to support himself, he found work at Hampshires Bakery in Leicester as an apprentice in 1976. Pitchfork mastered the art of cake sculpting with the intention of one day starting his own cake decorating business.
In 1981, he moved to Littlethorpe following his marriage to Carole Pitchfork, a social worker. Together with his wife, the couple welcomed two children, all sons.
Despite having a seemingly smooth family and professional life, the Leicester-grown man is said to have shown mood swings as well as a flare for women employees. While at the time, not much was made of it, this would lead to later crimes and likely his divorce from Carole.
His Life of Crime
Colin Pitchfork started having clashes with the law as far back as the 70s before he got married. His earliest crime had to do with indecent exposure. At the time, he was referred to therapy at the Carlton Hayes Hospital in Narborough.
Following this, he kept a low profile while staying away from the law till the 80s. First was the rape and murder of 15-year-old Lynda Mann while returning home from babysitting on November 21, 1983. According to the reports, she took a shortcut instead of the usual road home but when she did not reach home, her parents and neighbors spent the night searching for her. Sadly, it was the next morning that she was found raped and strangled on Black Pad, a local deserted road. The only evidence at the scene was a semen sample taken by the police. At the time, they opened a file but due to the failure of pinning a suspect, the case was left open.
Three years later, another 15-year-old, Dawn Ashworth was found deceased on July 31, 1986. Like the first victim, Ashworth failed to return home at 9:30 pm after visiting a friend. Her parents reported the case to the police leading to one of the largest manhunts in the area. It took them two days before, her body was found raped and strangled.
An Innocent Man was Suspected of the Rape-Murders…
The semen samples gotten at the two crime scenes led to the arrest of a suspect named Richard Backland. He was a 17-year-old local teenager with a learning disability. Notably, he showed knowledge of the second body and admitted to the crime yet denied the first crime.
This may have ended the investigation but with the use of Alec Jeffreys DNA profiling, the investigation continued. Using the technique, they came to the conclusion that the samples belonged to the same person but not Backland. Thus, the teenager became a part of a bigger experiment as he was the first person whose innocence was established using DNA fingerprinting.
Following this, about 5500 local men volunteered blood or saliva as samples so the investigation can continue, yet, it did not produce the criminal.
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…Till the Evidence Linked Pitchfork to the Crimes
The case turned around in 1987 when one of Pitchfork’s colleagues, Ian Kelly admitted to disguising as Pitchfork when he gave a blood test. It turns out that Pitchfork pleaded with Ian on the grounds that he did not want any clashes with the police due to previous experience.
This led to his arrest in September 1987. During the interrogation, he admitted to committing the crimes. Shockingly, he admitted to committing about a thousand unreported crimes involving other women since his teenage years.
He claimed to have started strangling victims to protect his identity. Considering the seriousness of the two crimes and another sexual assault case, Pitchfork was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988.
Is He Going to Be Released?
Since the former baker’s imprisonment, the families of the victim seem to have found justice. However, when his sentence was reduced to 28 years in 2009, not many welcomed the development. Regardless of the reactions to him becoming a free man, his attorneys pursued early parole on the grounds of good behavior in 2016.
Pitchfork who now goes by David Thorpe is believed to have completed a degree program and is now skilled in translating music on braille. This led to his move to an open prison in the same year. Reportedly, the move sailed through and he is said to have been seen around Bristol in 2017.
Shortly after his release, Pitchfork was recalled back to prison in 2021 for approaching young women while the case was pushed to 2023. Interestingly, even his ex-wife who referred to him as a monster was against his release. As it is, the parole board concluded that he will be released from prison. Like in previous years, this decision has been criticized. According to Dawn’s mother, Barbara Ashworth, ‘it’s diabolical’.
