Express & Star comment: Why was he out on the streets?
Killer Leroy Campbell may well be in prison, but for the family of his victim justice has not been served.
The 56-year old paranoid schizophrenic was jailed for life last year for the brutal rape and murder of Wolverhampton nurse Lisa Skidmore.
But because of his guilty plea, there are many vital elements of his case that have not been brought into the public realm.
Campbell had served 17 years of a life sentence for indecent assault before he killed Lisa.
He also had previous convictions for rape, and attempting to choke a woman with intention to commit rape.
Following his latest release from jail he had told a probation officer that he was having the same evil thoughts.
Yet he was still released, and able to carry out this most abhorrent of acts.
There are serious questions to answer here for the Ministry of Justice, the police and probation service.
It is no use them dragging out the tired old mantra that ‘lessons will be learned’.
The public – and most importantly Lisa’s family – deserve to know why a dangerous sex attacker who the authorities knew was capable of the most heinous crimes was allowed his freedom.
Somehow Campbell managed to slip through the system. The consequences were devastating.
We applaud Lisa’s brave family for their efforts to get the inquest into her death resumed. But this really should not be their fight.
They have already had enough to contend with.
Let us not forget that Lisa’s mother, Margaret Skidmore, was the victim of a vicious attack from Campbell that almost killed her.
We need to be told the full story of Campbell’s release and the events that led up to it.
The authorities need to get together and launch a full and thorough inquiry.
Lisa’s family have been let down by the system.
They are not the first, and sadly the fear is that they won’t be the last.
We are seeing too many cases where violent criminals, often with serious mental health issues, are being allowed out of jail.
Once they are free to roam the streets the results can be disastrous. For the sake of public safety, this simply cannot happen again.
