A serial rapist who destroyed lives across Greater Manchester has been recalled to prison just six WEEKS after being released. Andrew Barlow, formerly known as Andrew Longmire, was handed 13 life sentences for his evil crimes but was allowed out of jail after 34 years.
Now aged 66, the Bolton predator was taken to a Probation Service hostel by police escort on March 6th this year after his release. But he is now back in prison for breach of his licence conditions and due to his behaviour, the Manchester Evening News can reveal. It has been assessed that the risk he poses is now not manageable in the community.
The development has angered victims and the families of Barlow who campaigned to keep him behind bars with the help of veteran Manchester MP, Graham Stringer. As previously reported in the Manchester Evening News, Barlow's release was delayed after the then Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, asked the Parole Board to reconsider its decision.
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Mr Raab described Barlow's offences as "despicable" and said in January: “My thoughts remain with the victims of Andrew Barlow, whose despicable crimes blighted the lives of dozens of women. Public protection is my number one priority, which is why I’ve asked the Parole Board to reconsider their decision to release and I am overhauling the parole system to keep prisoners who pose a risk to the public off our streets.”
Today, after Barlow's return to prison, Mr Stringer said: "It is extraordinary. I think this is another failure of the Parole Board to use common sense and protect the public from a very dangerous man. They were warned by me and the victims. This is institutional failure of the highest order."
Commenting on the Manchester Evening News' story yesterday that Glyn Powell, the only one four killers of Moston teenager, Suzanne Capper, still in prison is also to be released, he said: "The same incompetents serving in the Parole Board are releasing the last murderer of Suzanne Capper.
"This person and the other murderers of Suzanne were guilty of a crime every bit as horrific as the Moors Murders. The Parole Board should not have released them. There needs to be a fundamental reassessment of the competence of the Parole Board. "
Responding to Mr Stringer's criticism regarding the release then recall of Barlow, a spokesman for the Parole Board said: "The offender has not been referred back to us for a parole review and so we don’t have access to any information about him being recalled and therefore we don’t have comment at this stage."
'We told them and they didn't listen'
A relative of a woman Barlow raped in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 said: "I took it on the chin in January and decided to get on with my life when Barlow was released - now this animal is back in our lives again. We told the authorities and they didn't listen.
"Someone has to be accountable for this. It will mean all the victims and their families are reliving the agony again like we had to in January when we tried in vain to stop his release. We told the authorities he was too high a risk and we have been proven right.
"I will like to sit down 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."
The daughter of a woman whose mother was raped in Greater Manchester by Barlow in the early 1980s said: "I was shocked when I heard that he was being recalled so soon. But then when I thought about how evil and twisted he was when committing his crimes it doesn't surprise me.
"When the victim support officer told me I had goose bumps all over my body and then my eyes swelled up with tears, I was thinking who has he attacked this time. The officer told me that he had not hurt anyone but that his behaviour had meant an imemdiate recall to prison.
"I am just pleased he has been monitored so closely as his behaviour whatever it was could have escalated."
Barlow was given 11 life sentences in 1988 for raping 11 women and an additional 56 years for other offences. In 2010, and then again in 2017, he received two more life sentences after rapes he committed in 1981 and 1982 which were linked to him through advances in DNA technology. As he had already surpassed his original 20-year tariff imposed in 1988 just another two years were added to his sentence in each case.
He was dubbed 'The Coronation Street rapist' as most of the victims were attacked in their own terraced homes in the north of England - the majority living in Greater Manchester. Two of the attacks took place in the street. He also struck in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and South Yorkshire in the early 1980s, and then agaain from August 1987 until January 1988 when he was arrested.
Barlow was subject to strict conditions
Barlow is barred from Greater Manchester and in its summary of the decision to release him, the Parole Board said he would be subject to licence conditions. which must be strictly adhered to.
Under the licence conditions he will had to comply with requirements to reside at a designated address, to be of good behaviour, to disclose developing relationships, and to report as required for supervision or other appointments. In addition, he must submit to an enhanced form of supervision or monitoring including drug testing, signing-in times, GPS trail monitoring, polygraph testing and a specified curfew.
Barlow had to comply with other identified limitations concerning contacts, activities, residency and an exclusion zone to avoid contact with victims. He also had to meet specified restrictions relating to the use of electronic technology and continue to work on addressing defined areas of risk in the community.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Protecting the public is our number one priority. That’s why offenders are subject to tough licence conditions and when they breach them, we do not hesitate to return them to custody.”
In a statement, the MOJ added: "Andrew Longmire is being returned to custody today following a breach of his licence conditions. His re-release will be a matter for the Parole Board. He has not been charged with any offences.
"Our Victims and Prisoners Bill includes plans to reform the parole process, including giving Ministers a power to veto the release of the most dangerous offenders, including murderers, rapists and terrorists."
Referring to the case of Barlow/Longmire, the statement added: "The former Secretary of State provided the Parole Board with a Secretary of State view opposing release; the Parole Board issued a provisional decision directing release.
"The former Secretary of State applied for reconsideration; the Parole Board rejected the application for reconsideration; and so the release decision became final. People convicted of violent sexual offences released from prison are managed on strict licences which can include residing at an Approved Premise and abiding by a curfew. They will also be subject to supervision which means attending meetings with a probation practitioner.
"If offenders are judged to pose an unmanageable risk in the community because they have breached their licence conditions, the Probation Service does not hesitate to recall them to prison to protect the public."
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