The Double School Girl Murderer: The Case of Colin Pitchfork

It was filled with controversy the first time around, after being the first case to be cracked with DNA. Now, this case came again in the spotlight with the debate whether such a vile, sordid killer should be released in public after serving 33 years in jail on what was supposed to be a life sentence?  Read on to find out about the evil deeds of Colin Pitchfork and the sad fate of his victims, 15-years-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth.

Colin Pitchfork Mug Shot

LYNDA MANN

Our story starts on 21 November 1983, with 15-years-old Lynda Mann. She was babysitting at a neighbor's house, a few streets away from her own home. Her mother arrived to the residence after work, and saw her daughter had not returned. This was very strange for the responsible teenager, who would have got home on time or called to inform her parents that she would be away for the night. 

While her mother was staring out the window, hoping for a glimpse of her daughter, young Lynda was already deceased. At around 20.00 that evening, Lynda left her babysitting duties and made her way home. She took a shortcut, a forested road called the Black Pad. This lane was a bit off the beaten path, but well used by dog walkers and people from Narborough and surrounds. On that same evening, the sadistic Pitchfork was babysitting his son, while his wife was at exercise class. He was driving in the area, with his young son in the back of the car, when he spotted Lynda walking alone close to the Black Pad path. He stopped the car, got out and exposed himself to the teenager. Scared, she ran away from him. Startled by her reaction, Pitchfork pursued Lynda and then proceeded to rape, assault and strangle her. He left her lifeless body on a piece of land close to the path. 

Lynda Mann

The next morning, her family was still waiting for Lynda to come home. Her mother, Kath Eastwood, thought that maybe Lynda decided to sleep at a friend's house and forgot to inform her. She was desperately hoping that her daughter would bound through the door to get ready for school. Sadly, instead of Lynda, a pair of police officers showed up later that morning. They came to inform Kath that they have found Lynda, but she was dead.A passer-by found her body on the deserted footpath where her assailant left her. Semen samples, tested with the forensic science available at that time, found that the semen was linked to Type A blood and an enzyme profile that matched only 10% of males at that time. 

Lynda Mann's parents holding a picture of Lynda

After 15 days, the police still had no leads. They were working diligently trying to get witness statements and find more clues at the crime scene, but nothing was turning up. Det. Chief Supt. David Baker was the lead investigator on the case. He was working for the Leicestershire Constabulary. At a loose end, he contacted his friend, criminal psychologist, Paul Britton. He made a criminal profile on the killer: most likely local, in a long-term stable relationship, motivated by sexual urges or desires. 

On January, 1984 police started to make door-to-door interviews and asked all the local males that fit the profile about their whereabouts and if they knew anything. This search led them to the door of Colin Pitchfork. His wife, Carol Pitchfork, was at home with him and their son. Police asked to speak to Colin, who was fixing some floorboards in the spare room. He took some time to compose himself before coming down to talk to the two police officers. 

The two constables were asking Colin some routine questions about his whereabouts and alibi. His wife convincingly said that he was babysitting their son. As such, police were satisfied. While watching a baby was not a solid alibi, police were fine enough with it as it seemed vile that a man would leave a very young child alone while raping and murdering people. 

In December 1983, Colin and his family moved to another home in Haybarn Close, a small area in the village of Littlethorpe. He still continued to work as a baker. 

In 1984, Lynda was buried in Narborough Cemetery. A few years passed and the trail was cold on the case, but it was left as an open investigation.

DAWN ASHWORTH 

A few years later,  on 31 July 1986, another local school girl was found strangled and raped. Her body was left on a deserted road, lonely and deceased. 

Dawn Ashworth

Teenager Dawn Ashworth, who was also 15-years-old at that point, left her residence to visit a friend's house. Her parents were waiting that she would come back at around 21.30 that same evening. When she didn't return, they immediately called the police to report her missing. 

Both Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth attended Lutterworth Grammar School. Dawn was an attractive girl who liked to draw and paint, and she loved music and clothes. She was very likable, and akin to Lynda, she was mature and responsible. There was no reason that her parents would suspect that she would sneak off or do something untoward. 

Two days later, Dawn's lifeless body was found horrendously battered, raped and strangled. It was found covered close to a secluded, wooden path called Ten Pound Lane. The way she was attacked matched the Lynda Mann case to a tee, and the semen found at the crime scene had the same profile with the particular enzyme and blood type. As such, the police decided to link them together and concluded that the same perpetrator committed both crimes. 

As with Lynda Mann, Dawn was killed because Pitchfork was afraid that she would be able to identify him. As this happened in Enderby, and Lynda's murder happened in Narborough, these were sometimes called the Enderby Murders or the Narborough Murders. 

OTHER SUSPECTS

Hanging around the murder site of Dawn Ashworth was a local lad by the name of Richard Buckland. He worked in the nearby psychiatry hospital. He knew Dawn as she had been coming that same path for a few years and they passed each other many times. He could describe very accurately what Dawn was wearing on the day of her death, and also provide details that were not released to the public. He rode a motorbike that was similar to the one spotted close to the scene of the crime on the same day as the murder. 

Richard was 17-years-old and worked as a kitchen porter. He was described as having learning difficulties. 

Due to him being able to provide facts that weren't released to the media, and being seen hanging around the crime scene, he was arrested by the police on 8 August 1986. He confessed to the murder of Dawn Ashworth. Richard vehemently denied that he was responsible for the death of Lynda Mann. As police were 100% convinced that both murders were connected, they tried to see if they could link them through physical evidence to him. 

Det. Chief Supt. David Baker contacted Professor Sir Alec John Jeffreys after reading an article in the local paper about a new technique called genetic fingerprinting. It detailed how it could identify a person's genetic code from a semen or blood sample. So, the police provided Professor Jeffreys with the semen samples from the bodies of Lynda and Dawn and then a blood sample from Richard. 

The professor found that the two semen samples had identical genetic coding, so that confirmed that they were both done by the same criminal. However, when this was compared to the blood sample given from Richard Buckland, it showed a different genetic code. As such, it was confirmed that the man that confessed to Dawn's murder was innocent. It was a false confession. The police were back to square one!

Now that the police had a technique to figure out exactly who the perp could be based on the blood sample, they undertook the massive job of testing as many men as possible that fit their criminal profile. This meant that over 6,000 local men were asked to provide blood samples. This massive task took over 6 months to sift through and figure out if there was a match. 

Police were very active in asking the local lads to provide blood. It was all voluntary, but they would go knocking door to door to remind people to go and give their blood sample. And the community itself was very good at keeping each other accountable. Men were enthusiastic to go and provide their blood. The general consensus was that if you didn't have anything to hide, why would you not go?

The process was that police sent letters to all men who were between 18 to 34 to come and donate a DNA sample. Then, the volunteers would go and they would have to provide a copy of their identification at the collection point. If they didn't have photo ID, then police would take a picture of them at the collection point and then follow up with a neighbour to verify that they had the same person. It wasn't the best way to perform identification, but it was the best they had at the time. 

Colin Pitchfork was also approached to give his blood as he fit in the age category, but he was desperate to evade it under any costs. He went around to ask several people if they could do it for him instead. One day, he asked a work colleague to do it on his behalf, a man called Ian Kelly. He said to Ian that he had already done the blood test for a bloke that had some troubles with the police in the past, and he had two children and needed to protect them. After 6 weeks of constant pestering, Ian agreed. The hapless friend thought that he was helping a mate, and felt sorry for his children.

Colin, being cunning, made Ian take passport pictures at a local booth. Then, he steamed the plastic off his own photo in his passport, carefully removed it, and replaced it with Ian's picture. Only with careful observation you could see that the picture had been expertly manipulated. 

After spending 7 months on this huge task, there was still no break in the case! There came no matches from the DNA samples. Police were desperate on what to do next! Fortunately, for them, their break came in the way of a phone call from a local woman.    

A few months after presenting his blood to the sample drive, Ian Kelly was down at the local pub with a group of work colleagues. Their conversation steered towards talking about how touchy-feely Colin Pitchfork was with all the female colleagues. Ian casually mentioned that he did the blood test on behalf of Colin Pitchfork. His friends at the pub where not sure how to respond. This lady did not know him very well, but she was worried about what it could mean for the case and called the police to inform them of what Ian confessed. 

Police felt like this was the break in the case they needed. They went to Pitchfork's home and arrested him on suspicion of committing the girls' murders. They took him to the police station where they took a blood sample and started the interrogation. 

The blood sample revealed that Pitchfork was the true killer. He also cracked, and confessed to both murders. Subsequently, also confessed to flashing over 1000 women. He had a insatiable fetish for exposing himself to unsuspecting girls as a way to have control. He said that he only meant to flash the two teens, but then got scared and murdered them because he was afraid that they would identify him. 

THE TRIAL 

Colin Pitchfork was trialed on 22 January 1988 at Leicestershire Crown Court. The trial didn't last long as Pitchfork entered a guilty plea. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the two murders, then 10 years additionally for the rapes. He was also given 3 years for the flashings, and 3 years for perverting the course of justice by refusing to give a blood sample. 

Colin Pitchfork on the day of his arrest

Ian Kelly was also sentenced for his role in this story with a suspended 18 month sentence for 2 years. 

The judge who oversaw the trial, Mr. Justice Otten, is quoted to say that the crimes were of a ''particularly sadistic kind.'' 

APPEALS

The convicted child rapist and murderer has tried many times to have his sentenced reduced or be freed. 

In 1994, the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, decided that Pitchfork should serve at least 30 years in prison for his sentence. A judge reviewed it in 2008, but refused to make it shorter. The judge, Mr Justice Grigson, said that it would be ''wholly inappropriate to reduce what I regard as a modest sentence for truly horrific crimes.''

In December 2008, he was allowed a leave of appeal for his sentence, which started on 30 April 2009 and lasted to 14 May 2009. His sentence was shortened from 30 years to 28 years, sadly.

He was eligible to be freed since 2016, however he was denied release. The judge said that he can only be released if there is a guarantee that he is not a danger to society anymore. The families of the victims opposed his release vocally! 

In 2017, he was seen walking around the Bristol area unsupervised on a shopping trip. He had been secretly moved to open prison, HM Prison Leyhill in Gloucestershire. There it was suspected that he was slowly being prepared for eventual release. 

Colin Pitchfork in 2017 spotted at the local shopping centre

In prison, Pitchfork studied to a degree level and was specialized in transcription of printed music to braille, in benefit of the blind. 

On 3 May 2018, he was refused release on licence. The Parole Board said that he could apply again for a review within two years. Lynda's mother, Kath, said that the Parole Board ''listened to the murderer before them'', meaning that the wishes of the killer was put before the victims' own families. 

Currently, in June 2021, this case came again in the spotlight because Pitchfork was granted release on conditional licence. This has caused a debate in British society that a person convicted of life in prison, should actually serve life in prison or be give a second chance? Some people are of the opinion that what he did was heinous and he should not be given a second chance. Others believe that he is now in his sixties, and he will not be a threat to society anymore. He was young when he did what he did. 

He will have 35 conditions tied to his release including: electronic tagging, lie detector tests and providing vehicle information for all cars that he owns. He must also not go to the area where the murders occurred. 

The decision is provisional for 21 days. 

CONCLUSION

My opinion is that this type of person, who clearly showed no remorse for his crimes, should be put in the darkest cell there is and have the key thrown away. There is no reason why we should think child killers deserve a second chance. He attacked two very vulnerable teenage girls who were just trying to get home to their parents. They did nothing bad and were not purposefully putting themselves in danger. He took advantage of the time and place, being that it was evening and the paths were secluded. 

Also with the case of Lynda Mann, Pitchfork had his infant child in the car, while he was raping and strangling the poor girl. What kind of evil, sadistic man would leave a young, helpless baby in a car in the night while he goes to rape and fulfill his disgusting fantasies?!

I hope that this case changes the law in England and no such people will be released again. This just causes more trauma to the victims' families and puts society, as a whole, in danger. While Pitchfork is in his sixties, he is still fit enough to move around, which means that he is fit enough to go and rape and kill again if the urge strikes badly enough. 

As for this case, I am happy that this was the first case where a suspect was cleared by DNA testing and also the first case where DNA was used to convict a person. This breakthrough was pivotal in changing forensic science as it is used today. I think it has helped us to figure out a clear, easy way to capture people. 

And now, we can even use familial DNA to catch killers, like the Golden State Killer, who was caught after over 40 years of being free. This works by tracing a DNA profile to related family members, and then using a process of elimination to guess who of those relatives fits best the suspect. And then, getting DNA from them, and matching it to the DNA profile that the police has from the crime.     

Let us know if you liked this post and do you think Colin Pitchfork should be let free or rot in jail for the rest of his life? Can we trust that sadistic people, such as him, would ever reform and could be safe to society?    

References

• Documentary: Colin Pitchfork Became The First Criminal To Be Snared by DNA Fingerprinting by Our Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo-GZrSI1tg)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Pitchfork
• http://aboutforensics.co.uk/colin-pitchfork/
• https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pitchfork-colin.htm
• https://sites.google.com/site/audreycahillforensicscience/case-study---colin-pitchork
• https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4901652/colin-pitchfork-murder-lynda-mann-dawn-ashworth/