Family outrage as poster of sadistic killer Colin Pitchfork used to advertise live performance
The families of the victim’s of double murderer Colin Pitchfork have told of their horror after his mugshot was used on posters advertising a gig for a band called ‘No Witnesses’.
Pitchfork, now 65, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years in 1988, later reduced to 28 years, for raping and strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth.
Lynda was murdered as she took a shortcut home from babysitting in Narborough, Leicestershire, in November 1983.
Pitchfork saw her pass by and left his baby son asleep in a car to chase Lynda, before raping her and dumping her body. He then drove home and put his son to bed.
Dawn was killed in Enderby, a mile away, in July 1986 after Pitchfork parked his motorbike and followed her on to a footpath. She was raped and strangled.
He lost his latest bid for freedom in October.
The posters featuring his mugshot were put up at Firebug in Leicester, a cocktail bar which hosts music and comedy nights.
The name of the main band due to perform No Witnesses appears where Pitchfork’s eyes would be.
Philip Musson, the uncle of Dawn Ashworth, branded the poster ‘appalling’ and the ‘epitome of poor taste’.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I don’t know why they would want to use the image of such a notorious figure in that area’s history.
‘Quite what the person responsible wanted to say about a would-be attender’s experience beggars belief.’
The band No Witnesses said they had ‘absolutely no idea’ the mugshot was anyone of relevance and thought it was just a ‘stock image’ of a criminal.
A mugshot of Colin Pitchfork released by police after he was jailed for life for rape and murder
Dawn Ashworth, left, 15, who was raped and murdered by Colin Pitchfork in July 1986 and Lynda Mann, right, 15, who was raped and murdered by Colin Pitchfork in November 1983
Miss Mann’s aunt Linda Eaton, 72, said the discovery has caused fresh distress to her family 40 years after Pitchfork murdered her niece.
Mrs Eaton said the case continues to affect her family across generations. ‘It never goes away,’ she said.
‘It just has this impact every time. It just hits you like a bolt out of the blue every time you see his picture.’
The posters were spotted by Mrs Eaton’s grandson Lewis while he was attending a work Christmas party at Firebug.
They had been put up on the stairs, wall and in the bathroom. The double killer’s nose, mouth and hairline all remain visible in the poster which also advertises two other bands.
Mr Eaton, 23, said he immediately recognised the image on the poster when he went to Firebug.
He told LeicestershireLive: ‘I wasn’t born when it happened, but I’ve heard enough about it from so many family members to know it was still a family member of mine, regardless of whether I met them or not.’
He said he felt he would be ‘doing a disservice’ to his family if he didn’t speak up.
Convicted child killer Colin Pitchfork seen walking in a local park following his release from prison in 2021. He was later recalled for breaching the terms of his licence.
The cocktail bar and music venue Firebug in Leicester where the posters were put up
Mr Eaton contacted the headlining band, No Witnesses, via Instagram to inform them about the poster.
A member of No Witnesses, who are from Bedfordshire, said they had ‘absolutely no idea’ the mugshot was anyone of relevance and thought it was just a ‘stock image’ of a criminal.
He said: ‘It wasn’t until a young lad who had links to the family reached out to myself where I instantly messaged the promoter to get this changed.
‘We had no idea whatsoever who the mugshot was of, and it wasn’t vetted or made clear to us at all.’
A spokesperson for Firebug said the poster was supplied by one of the artists, and delivered to the venue. They said the band in question is no longer performing on that date.
A spokesperson said: ‘As soon as we were made aware of the content, all the posters were immediately removed and destroyed.
‘No one onsite was aware who the image was of.
‘At no point did we intend any distress and if we had known of the visual content of the poster, we would have instructed the artist that it was not acceptable.’
Pitchfork was just 22 at the time of the first murder, and married with two sons. He grew up in rural Leicestershire and lived in Littlethorpe, Leicestershire, less than a mile from Narborough.
He was caught after an unprecedented mass screening of 5,000 men using pioneering ‘DNA profiling’ technology – becoming the first man to be convicted in the UK using DNA evidence.
But the bakery worker almost got away with the crimes after evading the blood-testing dragnet by persuading a colleague to pose as him.
At the time of Pitchfork’s conviction the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lane, said: ‘From the point of view of the safety of the public I doubt if he should ever be released’ but he was freed in 2021 only to be recalled to prison just weeks later after making multiple approaches to teenage girls.
He approached a lone woman while litter-picking and sidled up to young women – in their later teens and early 20s – on ‘multiple’ occasions, approaching them ‘for no reason’ during walks from his bail hostel and sent back to jail for breaching the terms of his release on licence.
In June 2023 the Parole Board found the decision to recall Pitchfork to prison was flawed and said his detention was no longer necessary for public safety.
But this ruling was blocked by then-justice secretary Alex Chalk as he called for the decision to release Pitchfork to be reviewed.
Pitchfork lost a fresh bid for freedom that December, before successfully challenging the decision to keep him behind bars.
In October this year, the Parole Board decided to keep him behind bars and did not recommend him to be transferred to open prison for the protection of the public.
A document on the decision said Pitchfork had only ‘limited internal controls and poor insight into his risky thinking and behaviour’.
In the Parole Board’s assessment, it said previous reviews had found Pitchfork got a ‘buzz’ by sexually assaulting his victims, and he described his violence as pent-up rage which ‘exploded’.
The panel believed Pitchfork’s risk escalates when he is experiencing life stress or the breakdown of a relationship, which feeds into his ‘grievance’ towards women.
