Fury over convicted murderer freed to kill again - VIDEO

Background: 'Manipulative' pensioner who killed twice

Ernest Wright, who began offending when he was just eight, was out on licence when he killed Neville Corby, 42, with a shotgun blast to the neck in Bradford almost a year ago.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday found him guilty, unaware that Wright had already served life for a murder in 1971 when he beat a love rival to death with an iron bar.

The family of his second victim said yesterday that the career criminal should never have been free to kill again, and police believe that Wright was also committing burglaries right up to the attack.

Disguised with a mask, Wright burst into the home that Mr Corby shared with Craig Freear, 31, in Ashbourne Road in Bradford, and opened fire repeatedly.

He blasted Mr Corby in the neck at close range and hit Mr Freear, who was hiding in the bathroom, with a shot fired through the door which struck him in the chest.

Mr Freear escaped by climbing out of the bathroom window and hiding under a neighbour's car. Wright, known as Les, then went on the run for 30 days.

After the hearing, Mr Corby's sister, who declined to be named, said: "Our family was never going to be happy with the outcome of today's trial. It should never have happened.

"Ernest Wright was given a life sentence in 1973. The British Government, the Home Office and the so-called criminal justice system have a lot to answer for.

"We will never come to terms with what he did. This should never have happened and Neville should still be here." She said Wright had committed serious offences since he was released in 1999. The killer was due to only serve a minimum term of 13 years, but served double that because he absconded four times while on home release.

Mr Justice Openshaw yesterday set a whole life term, saying the defendant's age was not a mitigating feature.

He added: "He remains vigorous and, as his actions on this day show, he remains cunning, devious and, in my judgment, highly dangerous." The judge said Mr Freear, a civil servant, only survived owing to the skill of the surgeons who operated on his wounds.

Richard Mansell QC, prosecuting, said Wright, who was born in Saltaire, murdered Trevor Hale in 1971 after falling in love with his wife, Ruth. They had an affair in Aylesbury, and Wright beat the husband to death with a metal bar because Mr Hale was violent towards her. He made partial confessions two years later.

The latest murder followed a series of clashes between Wright and the couple after he turned Mr Freear's disabled mother against him.

Her son used to look after her finances but Wright, her upstairs neighbour, moved her to a secret location and began the process of getting her benefits paid into his account.

While evading police for Mr Corby's murder, he wrote three letters to detectives expressing his innocence and threatening suicide. He also wrote similar letters after the first murder.

One letter said: "I just can't take any more prison, not at my age." Wright was convicted unanimously of murder, attempted murder and two firearms offences.

Outside court, Det Supt Chris Thompson said: "Wright is a manipulative man capable of extreme violence." Killer's sick urge: Page