Serial sex attacker Andrew Barlow known as the Coronation Street rapist to be released from prison despite appeal | The Sun
A SERIAL rapist is to be released from prison despite an appeal from the justice secretary.
Andrew Barlow known as the “Coronation Street rapist” was convicted of 13 attacks on women carried out in the 1980s.
The Parole Board has rejected an application by Dominic Raab to cancel his scheduled release.
Barlow, from Bolton, was jailed for life in 1988 and given a minimum term of 20 years for 11 rapes, three attempted rapes and other offences.
He was found guilty of a 12th rape in 2010 and another one in 2017.
Barlow largely carried out his attacks in Manchester area and became known as the “Coronation Street rapist” because his victims mainly lived in terraced housed in the north of England.
He attacked a 26-year-old woman in her Sheffield home while her terrified three-year-old daughter hid behind a settee.
Barlow would often break into the homes of victims and use weapons to threaten them, and in one case caused injury, before assaulting them.
Many times he carried out his attacks while children were in the same house.
In December the Parole Board decided Barlow could be released having spent more than 34 years in prison.
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It has since rejected an appeal from Raab who said the panel had "failed to take proper account of the evidence regarding risk and in particular the expert psychology evidence".
Reports on Barlow from two psychologists slightly differed over his safety, with one saying he was considered safe while the other said he should undergo further tests in an open jail before being confirmed for release.
In rejecting Raab’s application, the Parole Board said: "there has been no misdirection of law", and the panel had considered "all the evidence".
Members of the panel favoured the report of the first psychologist, adding “it was entitled to reach that conclusion”.
The board claimed that Barlow’s “risk management plan with its extensive list of conditions” would be “sufficiently robust” to manage his return to life outside of prison.
It said: "The whole panel would be aware of the correct test and the panel was chaired by a very experienced retired judge who also has considerable experience of parole hearings and applying the statutory test.”
The board’s decision may be challenged by an appeal in the High Court.
A representative for the Ministry of Justice said the case "emphasises the need for reform of the parole system" and "ministerial oversight of the most serious cases".
Following the re-arrest in 2021 of Colin Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two teenage girls in the 1980s, Raab said he wanted to see a more cautious approach to future parole decisions.
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