Double child killer Colin Pitchfork's next parole hearing will take place in public in July.

The Parole Board granted an application for a public hearing in the case in the 'interests of justice', a decision published on Thursday said.

Pitchfork was jailed for life in 1988 after raping and strangling two 15-year-olds, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk tonight welcomed the move to hold the sick child killer's hearing in public.

Mugshot of Colin Pitchfork, the first murderer convicted and jailed using DNA evidence 

Dawn Ashworth, 15, was raped and murdered by Pitchfork in 1986 in Leicestershire 

Lynda Mann was also one of Pitchfork's victims, also being killed and raped in 1983 

Pitchfork's oral parole hearing will take place between the 8 and 10 of July, the MoJ said tonight.

The Parole Board met last year to decide whether the double child killer could be released and ruled in December he should not be freed.

But Pitchfork applied for the decision to be reconsidered and this has been granted, the Parole Board has said.

It means he will face another parole hearing, now set for July, to decide if he can be freed from jail.

Parole Board hearings are typically conducted behind closed doors but can, in certain circumstances, take place in public following changes in the law in a bid to remove the secrecy behind the process.

Caroline Corby, chair of the Parole Board, said: 'I have carefully considered Mr Pitchfork's representations and I have concluded that the interests of justice outweigh the points raised on Mr Pitchfork's behalf.'

According to a document outlining the decision to have Pitchfork's case heard in public, the Parole Board said he had changed his name by deed poll a number of times since his conviction due to an apparent 'desire to protect his identity given the public reaction to his offences and his potential release'. 

The name he is currently using has not been disclosed. 

The families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, the two Leicestershire schoolgirls raped and murdered by Pitchfork, have been notified of the Parole Board's decision.

Convicted child killer Pitchfork is seen walking in a local park near young families after his release in 2021

Lynda Mann (pictured) who was raped and murdered by Pitchfork in 1983 when she was just 15

Pitchfork raped and murdered Dawn Ashworth (pictured) three years after his first attack

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said Justice Secretary Mr Chalk was 'in full support' of the hearing taking place in public.

They added: 'The Lord Chancellor was in full support of this hearing taking place in public which was made possible through our move to increase parole board transparency by removing the ban on open hearings.

'This Government is reforming the parole system to add a Ministerial check on the release of the most dangerous criminals and we are changing the law so that for society's most depraved killers, life means life.'

Pitchfork's first application for parole was rejected after it emerged that he had been loitering in forests and parks, even approaching lone women during his spell of freedom.

He had been released under ultra-strict licence conditions in June 2021 before being recalled to prison just three months later in September that year.

The killer became eligible for release again in June 2023 but the decision was blocked by the government after pressure from MP Alberto Costa, who represents South Leicestershire where the vile crimes were committed.

In a rare move, the Parole Board has now agreed to Mr Costa's request for Pitchfork to face his latest parole hearing in public. 

The MP for South Leicestershire has welcomed the decision to hold Pitchfork's latest parole hearing in public.

The double child-rapist and murderer successfully appealed the December 2023 decision to keep him behind bars triggering a fresh parole hearing this summer.

This decision comes after the Mr Costa wrote to Parole Board chair Caroline Corby calling for the hearing to be held in public due to his concerns about how the Parole Board has handled Pitchfork's case.

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BREAKING NEWS Double child killer Colin Pitchfork who raped and strangled two 15-year-olds to get another bid for freedom after successfully challenging Parole Board

During the Parole Board hearing last year in which Pitchfork's bid for release was rejected previously unknown details about why he had been recalled to prison came to light. 

After his release in a town on England's south coast, on one occasion the monster was spotted by his parole officer approaching a lone female - a direct contravention of his licence term - in the car park directly outside his parole office.

Pitchfork was also said to have spent a lot of time 'walking aimlessly' in a forest and parkland areas, where he claimed he was simply picking up litter.

On a different occasion Pitchfork shouted at a parole officer after trying to cheat a polygraph test by controlling his breathing.

During the December hearing the Parole Board was told that prior to Pitchfork's arrest in 1987 he held 'deviant fantasies', felt entitled to sex where and when he wanted, and enjoyed sexual violence against women.

The board's decision to deny his release was because of a lack of information about Pitchwork's current attitudes towards sex and 'protracted and inconsistent explanations from the killer as to why he was recalled to prison'.

Pitchfork killed Lynda in Narborough, Leicestershire, in November 1983, and Dawn in the nearby village of Enderby in July 1986.

Lynda was brutally murdered as she made her way home from babysitting in Narborough.

Dawn disappeared three years later while on a short walk to her home in Enderby.

Her body was discovered dumped in the corner of a field hidden under branches.

Pitchfork was arrested on September 19 1987 and sentenced to life imprisonment the following January after pleading guilty to both murders, with the judge giving him a 30-year minimum term, later reduced to 28 years on appeal.

He was also convicted of having sexually assaulted two more girls, including a 16-year-old who he threatened with a screwdriver and a knife.

Pitchfork, who admitted to having exposed himself to more than 1,000 girls and women, was the first man convicted using DNA evidence.