The ringleader of the gang of thugs who beat Garry Newlove to death will learn in days if he is to be moved to an open prison.
Adam Swellings is the last of Garry’s killers who remains in prison.
The drunk gang attacked the dad in 2007 after he reprimanded them for vandalising cars outside his home.
Swellings, then 19, had been freed on bail just hours earlier over a similar assault.
He also ignored a court order banning him from Warrington, Cheshire, where sales manager Garry was killed aged 47.
Swellings’ minimum sentence of 17 years for the murder ends in 2024, and he is bidding to be moved to open conditions in preparation for his release.
The Parole Board said: “The parole review of Adam Swellings has been referred to [us] by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes with a decision expected in April.”
It is understood Swellings appeared before a parole board panel on Monday.
Fellow killers Jordan Cunliffe, then 16, and Steven Sorton, then 17, were handed minimum jail terms of 15 and 12 years respectively for the murder. Sorton’s sentence was reduced by two years on appeal. They were released in 2020.
An attempt by the then Justice Secretary Robert Buckland to keep Cunliffe in jail was rejected by a Parole Board review panel.
Garry’s widow Baroness Helen Newlove previously spoke of feeling helpless at the parole hearings and demanded more of a say for victims of crime. She said in 2018: “Release is a painful part of the victim journey. You know it must happen but it does not make it any easier.”
Baroness Newlove backed the Mirror’s campaign for a victims’ rights bill to address the imbalance when it comes to criminals and those they target.
She said: “The victims’ law would give a voice to victims.
“It will make people respect what that victim’s journey is about and not leave them on the edge. Only then will they be at the centre of our criminal justice system. At the moment they are nowhere near.”
The proposed legislation would give victims the legal right to be updated and consulted on their cases.
A victims’ code was introduced last year as a precursor to legislation which is still to be announced.
It comes after the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab this week revealed proposed parole system reforms in the wake of the decision to release double child killer Colin Pitchfork.
Mr Raab said the plans would let ministers block the most serious offenders getting freedom. It follows an outcry over the release of Pitchfork and black cab rapist John Worboys, 64.
Pitchfork, 60, was returned to prison last year after approaching young women in the street, while Worboys’ release was blocked after legal action.
