The mother of the woman who was raped and murdered by Steven Ling on Christmas Day 25 years ago said she is “relieved and delighted” after his bid to move to an open prison was blocked.
The parole board recommended that the sadistic killer, who is now 47, should be transferred to a low-security facility last month, but it was overruled by justice secretary Dominic Raab.
It came after a desperate plea from the mother of his victim Joanne Tulip - the 29-year-old hairdresser who was raped and stabbed 60 times by Ling in Stamfordham, Northumberland, after he lured her to his home in 1997.
Joanne’s mother, Doreen Soulsby, wrote to Mr Raab and convinced him to use his personal powers to block a parole board decision for the first time.
“It’s such a relief. All the effort and campaigning has been really worthwhile in the end," she told Chronicle Live.
"I don't think anyone would believe that a killer like Ling would ever be considered to be moved to an open prison. I want him locked up for life.
“He was only 23 when he murdered my daughter. He has had no chance to socialise or have relationships with women. I cannot believe he won’t pose a risk to women if he went to an open prison.
“He will come up before the parole board again, I am sure and I will have to face that when it happens. For the time being, though, I am relieved and delighted."
Farm labourer Ling was jailed for life in 1998 and told he would serve at least 18 years behind bars, after he raped and murdered Ms Tulip, carved crosses and swastikas into her body and set fire to it.
He has applied for parole four times since then and during his latest hearing, in February, the board refused his request for release but backed a move to an open prison.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The Deputy Prime Minister has rejected Steven Ling’s move to open conditions in the interest of public protection.”
Mr Raab intervened in the Ling case after deciding that a justice secretary should personally rule on the transfer of high-risk offenders to open prisons rather than leave it to officials.
It came after serial sex offender Paul Robson, also jailed for life, absconded from an open prison in Lincolnshire last month, just weeks after being moved from a secure jail.
In her letter, Mrs Soulsby warned Mr Raab about the disturbing findings of a forensic scientist in the National Crime Faculty Unit who profiled Ling shortly after the murder.
He was found to be a “piquerist” who “has a sexual interest in penetrating the skin with sharp objects”.
Mrs Soulsby wrote: “What he did came out of his own head and was he not insane.
"Ling's head was wired in a way that when he came up against Joanne's fight against him he sadistically raped and murdered her and did terrible things to her body both before and after death.
"He is only 47 years of age now and has missed 24 years of his young life being in prison.
"Because of this, if he were released even in to open prison, he would target women even on day release, socialise with them, and his sexual appetite having been restrained in prison, would take over his control of the situation and would be a danger to women.
"You cannot 'test' a prisoner's readiness like Ling in open conditions for any potential return into the community in future for fear another young woman being attacked and murdered in the same way as my daughter Joanne."
