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Facebook group set up to debate the issue of parole
Fears over a notorious Wigan killer's bid for freedom have prompted the launch of a new on-line campaign to keep him behind bars.
Christine Massey was greatly moved to read in last week's Wigan Observer about Trevor and Sheila Fairhurst and how they are already having to brace themselves for a parole hearing in February only four years after their daughter Carly's death.
Darren Pilkington, now 28, was given an indeterminate life sentence for public safety by a Liverpool Crown Court judge after admitting the Hindley 19-year-old's manslaughter. But under the terms of the sentence he can make regular bids for parole once a minimum period (in his case four years) has passed.
Click here to join/view the Facebook group
Ms Massey, whose daughter went to nursery with Carly, has now set up a Facebook group which invites people, particularly those from the Hindley community, to voice their feelings on the parole issue.
But she stresses that this is not a hate campaign against Darren Pilkington, rather a chance for people to make observations about how the death of Carly affected the community, how they perceive the Fairhursts have been affected by the tragedy to this day, and how the community would react if Pilkington (who was also jailed in 2000 for the manslaughter of another Hindley man, Paul Akister) were allowed back into society within months.
And within just a few days more than 350 people have contributed to the wall post.
Trevor said: "I have been reading some of the messages and they are very moving. We are overwhelmed once again at how understanding and sympathetic people have been.
"I would hope that these comments will have a real impact on the parole board when they make their deliberations.
"The Observer article also led to us being approached by three magazines to do articles. Anything that keeps the issues of domestic violence and the length of his sentence in the public eye has to be welcomed."
Ms Massey said: "When I read the Observer last week felt I had to do something and so I set up a Facebook group.
"This is not about calling Darren Pilkington names, it is really about the loss of Carly and how the community felt about it.
"We want to put to the parole board just how many people's lives were touched and how people are still struggling to come to terms with it.
"This is a group to support the family and their efforts to raise money for Victim Support and we can contact contributors with any events and activities.
"It shows the hole that has been created by Pilkington's actions. If he came back into the community now I don't know how I would react. It does, seem unfair after such a short space of time."
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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