Anger at murderer's jail term cut

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The mother of a murdered teenager has said she is disgusted that the killer's 30-year sentence has been reduced.

Colin Pitchfork's tariff was cut by two years at the Court of Appeal because of his "exceptional progress" in custody.

Pitchfork, 48, was jailed in 1988 after admitting raping and murdering Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, who were both 15 years old and from Leiecestershire.

Lynda's mother Kath Eastwood said: "It's the wrong decision... it's all in favour of the criminal."

He still committed the murder - it doesn't change that Kath Eastwood

Pitchfork was the first person to be jailed for murder through the use of DNA evidence.

Ms Eastwood said: "After all this waiting I hoped it would be in our favour and, in my eyes, it's not.

"I don't want him to feel he's won anything. He's not.

"He's still in prison and still got to stay there.

"He still committed the murder - it doesn't change that."

Pitchfork has achieved a degree during his time in prison

The judges said on Thursday that they allowed the appeal to a very limited extent because of Pitchfork's "exceptional progress" in custody.

The court heard that the double killer had become a specialist in the transcription of printed music into Braille and achieved a high educational standard up to degree level.

Pitchfork, a former baker, admitted two charges of murder, two of rape, two of indecent assault and one offence of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

His first victim, Lynda Mann, from Narborough, was murdered in 1983.

Three years later Pitchfork killed Dawn Ashworth, from Enderby.

He initially managed to avoid justice by persuading a colleague to submit a DNA sample for him when 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples.

It was the world's first such mass DNA screening.

Pitchfork's legal team argued that the 30 years he must serve before being considered for parole was "manifestly excessive".

Lynda Mann's mother Kath Eastwood says there are no winners in the case