Originally sentenced to 13 life sentences for his crimes, Bolton’s serial rapist is trying once more for freedom. He was dubbed “The Coronation Street Rapist”.
Released last year following 34 years in jail, Andrew Barlow, once known as Andrew Longmire, was returned barely six weeks later.
Released, Barlow, now 67, was brought by police to a Probation Service hostel on March 6, last year.
But for his behaviour and for exceeding his licence limitations, he was put to jail.
It was decided at the time that he presented an uncontrollable risk for the society.
Now Barlow has appealed his recall to prison; next week’s ruling will determine if he should be released once more.
But the notion of his re-emergence has infuriated victims and their relatives who collaborated with seasoned Manchester MP Graham Stringer to keep him behind bars.
A relative of one of his victims told the Manchester Evening News that last Wednesday was a parole hearing for his recall last year following only six weeks of community service following some of the 32 licence terms he broke. From what I know, he is a violent rapist not altered.
A Parole Board official said, “An appeal against his recall to prison was held on June 19th, and a decision will be announced by Wednesday next week.”
After Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister and then-Justice Minister, asked the Parole Board to review its ruling, Barlow’s release was postponed.
Following Barlow’s quick incarceration return Mr Stringer said in April 2023, “It is extraordinary.” This is yet another instance of the Parole Board’s refusal to use common sense and guard the public against a dangerous man. The victims as well as me cautioned them. This is the highest order institutional failure.
“I took it on the chin in January and tried to get on with my life when Barlow was released – now this animal is back in our lives again,” said a cousin of a woman Barlow raped in her own house in Greater Manchester in 1987. May of last year The authorities ignored our reports to them.
Someone has to answer for this. As we experienced in January when we tried fruitfully to stop his release, all of the victims and their families will have to go through the suffering once more. We were proved right when we told the authorities he presented an intolerable risk.
“I would like to meet with someone from the Parole Board face-to-face and tell them what happened to our family because of Barlow; not submit an email like I had to in January.”
Barlow was sentenced to 11 life terms for raping 11 women in 1988, plus 56 years for unrelated activities.
Thanks to developments in DNA testing, he was given two more life sentences for rapes carried out in 1981 and 1982 linked to him in 2010 and then once more in 2017.
Only two years were added to each case since he already exceeded his initial 20-year sentence imposed in 1988.
Most of the victims —who lived in Greater Manchester — were attacked in their own terraced homes in the north of England, so he was dubbed “The Coronation Street Rapist”. Two of the attacks happened on the streets. Early 1980s he also struck in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and South Yorkshire; later, from August 1987 to January 1988, he was caught.
Barlow is limited from Greater Manchester; in its explanation of the release decision, the Parole Board said he would be subject to strictly observed licence restrictions.
Following Barlow’s recall last year, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said, “Our primary job is public protection. This is why offenders are under strict licence terms; if they break them, we will not hesitate to send them to custody.
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