Paedophile Colin Blanchard to be considered for parole

Paedophile Colin Blanchard has been referred to the Parole Board to be considered for release after serving nine years in prison for running 'one of the most sickening paedophile rings this country has seen'.

Blanchard, 51, previously of Smithy Bridge, was given an indeterminate sentence in 2011 for child sex abuse charges and told he must serve a minimum of nine years in jail.

The leader of a paedophile ring, Blanchard had exchanged images with Tracy Lyons, of Portsmouth; Tracy Dawber, of Southport; Angela Allen, of Nottingham, and Vanessa George, of Plymouth.
 

Read more: Paedophile ring leader jailed Published: 10 January 2011

George abused 64 babies and toddlers in her care as a nursery worker – leading her to be dubbed ‘the UK’s worst female paedophile’.

A video of Lyons abusing a boy was found on Blanchard’s computer following his 2009 arrest, whilst he had also sent indecent images taken from the internet to her email address. Meanwhile, a mobile phone found in Blanchard’s car held a series of images of a woman abusing a baby. Police were told this was Tracy Dawber, and one of the images had been sent to George.

George was released from prison in 2019, Allen released in 2020, and Lyons in 2011.

No date has been set for Blanchard's parole hearing at the time of publication.

A Parole Board spokesman said: “We can confirm the parole review of Colin Blanchard has been referred to the Parole Board and is following standard processes. 

“Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community. 

“The panel will carefully examine a whole range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as understand the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims. 

“Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.

“The Parole Board will carefully examine and consider a wide variety of licence conditions as well as the wider release plan when considering whether an offender’s risk can be safely manged in the community. No prisoner will be released if it is deemed their risk management plan is not robust enough or licence conditions stringent enough to ensure they can be safely managed upon release.

“Victim engagement is a vital part of the parole process and we are committed to ensuring victims are kept fully informed about any updates and information regarding parole reviews. It is vital for the parole system that victims are kept notified of their rights to make victim personal statements and request licence conditions.

“Victims signed up to the National Probation Service’s victim contact scheme also have the opportunity to submit a victim personal statement, which they can chose to read, or have some read for them at a hearing. A panel will closely consider and examine the contents of the statement to fully understand the effects of the crime when making their decision.

“Licence conditions include a variety of rules by which an offender must abide by or they can be recalled to prison immediately. Some examples include an order to live at a specific address; electronic tagging, curfews and daily check-ins, exclusion zones which prohibit someone from entering a certain area, bans on contacting victims and other individuals or a certain age, restrictions on the use of electronic devices and removal of passport to name a few.

“The board recognises the pain and anguish victims will go through when an offender is going through a parole review and even more so if that offender is released. As such, we absolutely welcome input from victims when deciding licence conditions and will consider and requests for additional conditions extremely carefully.”