No justice

WHEN Tracie Andrews was jailed in July 1997 for "life" for the murder of her fiancé Lee Harvey, a crime that she tried to pass off as a road-rage attack, she was told that she would serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars.

The key word, when sentence was passed, was "minimum". Andrews would, effectively, only be eligible for parole in July 2011 – and providing

that she was a model inmate who conformed to prison rules.

It was the least that she deserved, given the seriousness of her crime.

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Yet, despite this, HM Prison Service appear to be preparing Andrews for release on the 14th anniversary of her sentence. This is the only logical explanation for the decision to release the convicted murderer from Askham Grange open prison on Saturday so she could undertake a supervised shopping trip in York city centre. It probably also explains how the killer has changed her name and had cosmetic surgery to her lower jawline.

If a murderer is deemed fit to be released back into society and be given a "second chance", that person will, of course, require some

support from the authorities. Yet this should only happen once they have served their punishment – and not before – if the criminal justice system's credibility is to be preserved.

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