Wigan double killer no longer eligible for cushier prisons after two jail breaks

Darren Pilkington appeared before a Bolton Crown Court judge on Thursday July 7 to admit absconding from open conditions at HMP Kirkham and was given another six months behind bars.

The Hindley 39-year-old had gone on the run on May 25 this year, the court hearing that his absence was only noticed when a roll call was taken and it was assumed he had just walked out of the front gate.

Police tracked him down to an address in Horwich three days later and arrested him. A man and a woman were also detained on suspicion of assisting an offender and were later released under investigation.

Pilkington is one of the few people in the British justice system to have served sentences for two unrelated manslaughters, the first with his brother Andrew for the killing of Paul Akister in Hindley town centre, the second for causing the death of his 19-year-old girlfriend Carly Fairhurst whom he pushed downstairs after an argument in 2006.

For his second crime he was given an indeterminate term which meant that after serving less than three years, he was entitled to yearly assessments which involved Carly’s parents Trevor and Sheila having to submit victim impact statements.

After 10 years of successfully keeping him behind bars, they saw him finally released on licence, but since then has repeatedly breached its terms and ended back in jail, putting the Fairhursts through more traumatic hearings.

They believe he should have been locked up forever and certainly haven’t approved of the periods he has spent in category D jails.

Pilkington will almost certainly be at liberty again one day but in the meantime, the Fairhursts can at least be assured that he will be properly locked up until then.

This was confirmed in correspondence from the Public Protection Casework Section of the Ministry of Justice in response to a letter the Hindley couple had written to Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, explaining their continuing distress caused by Pilkington’s behaviour and the way the justice system has dealt with him.

Because the killer also disappeared from his cell one night while serving his original sentence, he is now considered to have absconded from custody twice and so is ineligible to return to lower category institutions.

And the response also points out that as soon as Mr Raab took over as Justice Secretary he introduced a policy which established a more precautionary approach to assessing the suitability of indeterminate prisoners recommended for a move to open conditions by the Parole Board.

The Fairhursts are pleased at the response and were also delighted to meet at Wigan police HQ the officers who tracked down and arrested Pilkington.

Trevor said: “It is reassuring to hear from the Justice Department that Pilkington is now going to be kept in a proper prison and lets hope that he is in there for a good long stretch.

"He doesn’t seem to learn his lessons.”

He added that he and Sheila have been asked to resume talks to police about their tragic experiences of domestic violence’s deadly consequences.