Double child killer Colin Pitchfork can be released from prison subject to conditions, the Parole Board has said.
Pitchfork was jailed for life in 1988 for raping and strangling two 15-year-old girls, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986.
He was given a minimum term of 30 years, later reduced to 28 years due to progress he had made in prison.
The 63-year-old was released in 2021, before being arrested and sent back to prison two months later for breaching licence conditions.
But following a hearing held in private in April, the Parole Board has decided Pitchfork can be released.
It said it is "no longer necessary for the protection of the public" to keep him in prison.
It said in its decision: "The prisoner had committed shocking, serious offences, causing immeasurable harm to his victims.
"However, the Parole Board's role, as required by law, is to undertake a risk assessment. The panel noted that Mr Pitchfork has been in prison for a very long time. His behaviour for almost all of that time has not caused any concern.
"He has made constructive use of his time and is now 63 years old. In general, age tends to reduce risk.
"Mr Pitchfork has completed many courses satisfactorily and the evidence before the panel demonstrated that he had learnt the lessons that he had been taught and had worked out how to apply them in practice.
"Accordingly, the panel determined that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public for Mr Pitchfork to remain confined and thereby directed his release."
