Steven Ling: Man who admitted rape and murder of woman he stabbed 60 times should be freed, Parole Board says

9 September 2024, 12:56 | Updated: 9 September 2024, 16:26

A man who admitted the rape and murder of a woman he stabbed 60 times during sex 27 years ago should be freed from prison, the Parole Board has said.

Steven Ling was jailed for life in December 1998 after admitting an attack on Joanne Tulip, 29, in Stamfordham, Northumberland.

He has been recommended for release following his fifth parole hearing.

Ms Tulip's mother Doreen Soulsby said she was "absolutely appalled and disgusted" by the Parole Board's recommendation.

She said: "That man committed horrific offences against my daughter and yet is deemed to not be a high risk, and is safe to be released from prison. It's outrageous."

Ms Soulsby said she was very concerned that Ling, now 49, will pursue relationships with women when he is released, having missed out on socialising with the opposite sex while in prison.

She said: "How can the Parole Board believe this man doesn't pose a danger to society when he took my daughter away from her family by committing the most brutal and sadistic crimes?

"Ling needs to stay locked up behind bars - he is a danger to all women and girls."

The recommended decision to release Ling into the community was, she said "a betrayal to not only Joanne's family but to the families of other victims in similar situations".

She urged ministers to block the recommendation, saying: "They must do everything they can to ensure women and girls are kept safe from this sadistic man."

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: "I know the justice secretary is considering whether that decision can be appealed and whether it can be reconsidered, whether she can request for the parole board to reconsider it, but it is an independent parole board."

Ling has since admitted committing several acts of indecent exposure before he murdered Ms Tulip and for which he was not caught and his behaviour in prison "has largely been exemplary", the board said.

A charge of rape was left on file during the original court case, so he is not a convicted sex offender, but in its ruling, the Parole Board stated: "Mr Ling has always accepted that he raped the victim."

His vicious murder of Ms Tulip on Christmas Day 1997 was inspired by sadism, the sentencing judge said back in 1998.

Jailing him for life at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Justice Potts told Ling he "inflicted appalling injuries on (Ms Tulip) while you were having sexual relations with her".

The judge said he was satisfied Ling was partly motivated by "an aspiration of sadism", telling him he would "never be released so long as it is thought you constitute a danger to women".

Ling, who was 23 at the time of the murder, was handed a minimum term of 20 years which was reduced to 18 years by the High Court.

At a public parole hearing in July this year, which was live-streamed for the public to follow, two psychologists agreed Ling should be freed from prison and spoke of his enduring "shame" about his "monstrous" past.

The experts, identified only as A and B, recommended Ling could be released from prison on a risk management plan, one saying the risk Ling posed was "not imminent" and was "manageable in the community", the other stating Ling "meets the test for release and no longer needs to be detained for the protection of the public."

The panel heard that a past risk assessment identified several factors that led to him attacking Ms Tulip which included his preoccupation with sex, sexual interest in indecent exposure, capacity to use force to secure sexual gratification, entitlement towards sex, and a negative attitude towards women.

The assessment also identified issues in Ling's own self-worth and self-esteem.

Read more from Sky News:
The prisoners who will never be released
Lucy Letby conviction doubts: Families want answers

In 2022, then justice secretary Dominic Raab rejected a request to transfer Ling to a lower security jail "in the interest of public protection". The move overruled a recommendation made by the Parole Board earlier that year.

A similar request was blocked by MoJ officials when Ling's case came before the Parole Board in 2020.

(c) Sky News 2024: Steven Ling: Man who admitted rape and murder of woman he stabbed 60 times should be freed, Parole Board says