Police killer Harry Roberts has been released after 48 years prison, it has been revealed.
The 78-year-old, who was jailed for life for shooting dead three unarmed policemen in 1966, was released from Littlehey prison in Cambridgeshire on Monday night.
Roberts was one of a gang who murdered Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, 30, Detective Constable David Wombwell, 25, and Constable Geoffrey Fox, 41.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice told The Sun: ‘We do not comment on individuals.
‘Offenders on life sentences are subject to strict controls for as long as their risk requires them. If they fail to comply with these conditions they can be immediately returned to prison.
‘Offenders managed through multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa) are monitored and supervised by probation, police and other agencies.’
The revelation he was to be released sparked anger from the families of the dead, police and politicians last month.
Mandy Fox, who was only two when her father Geoffrey Fox was gunned down alongside two colleagues in 1966, said yesterday that killer Harry Roberts had ruined her childhood and ‘damaged a whole family’.
She questioned why the Parole Board had now decided to free Roberts, 78, just five years after he was deemed too dangerous to be on the streets, while Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: ‘In this case “life” should have meant what it said.’
Sir Bernard said: ‘Roberts pleaded guilty to two cold-blooded murders and was involved, with his accomplices, in a third. He was convicted of all three murders.’
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| Unarmed victims (from left): PC Geoffrey Fox, DC David Wombwell and DS Christopher Head were all shot dead |
The police ‘union’, the Police Federation, said Roberts’s planned release was a ‘scandalous, hurtful and abhorrent decision which opens the door even further for those who have scant regard for law and order’.
Even Home Secretary Theresa May came out in principle against police killers being released.
Miss Fox told the Mail: ‘I had a hell of a childhood because of this. I have suffered with mental health problems and they have been caused by what happened.
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| Harry Roberts (right), pictured in 2009 with a prison guard in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire before his release |
‘I don’t have any sympathy for the argument that Harry Roberts has human rights. I don’t think anybody should be saying he is only a “poor 78-year-old”.
‘He will be well looked after by his contacts when he comes out. The rights of his victims’ families are much more important.’
She added: ‘He seems to be a master manipulator to me. It would be wrong for him to be let out. He has never shown any remorse for what he has done.’
In an interview Roberts said he regrets his crimes but believes he has served his time.
