Killer who drowned mum dies behind bars just weeks after bid for freedom

When Victor Farrant was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court in 1998 for the brutal murder of his former girlfriend Glenda Hoskins, 44, and attempted murder of Ann Fidler, 45, judge Mr Justice Butterfield said he was so dangerous he should "never be released."

But in March, 26 years on, Mrs Hoskins' family were contacted by officials saying Farrant, 74, was being considered for compassionate leave, as he had terminal cancer and could have only months to live, the Mirror reports.

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On Saturday, May 4, David, Katie and Iain Hoskins - who were just 13, 15, and 21 when their mother was murdered - were told that her killer had died in HMP Wakefield the previous day.

Liverpool restaurateur Iain, now 47, told the Daily Mirror: "Farrant's whole life sentence and the judge's remarks that he should die in prison should have been respected.

"However, Farrant's death, like his imprisonment, changes nothing for us. The circumstances and death of our mother, Glenda Hoskins, will haunt us for the rest of our lives.

"His death, though, does bring to a close a very painful chapter for us all. We, and the public at large should certainly feel safer now that this repeat-offender and psychopath will not strike again."

The family had previously received devastating news that terminally ill Farrant was being considered for early release, so he could be cared for out of prison - and that the decision to release him could be made within weeks.

The furious family launched an urgent appeal to the Government to keep Farrant behind bars until his death.

They wanted a change in the law to prevent the early release of prisoners on compassionate grounds if a judge has declared they should never leave prison.

Horrific murder

It was February 1996 when Portsmouth labourer Farrant drowned 45-year-old Mrs Hoskins, who was his ex-girlfriend, in the bath after demanding sex.

He then hid her body, rolled in a piece of carpet, in the attic before fleeing the scene. In a cruel twist, Mrs Hoskins' 15-year-old daughter Katie found her accountant mum's body in the loft, after she had failed to collect her and David from school.

After the murder, Farrant fled in Mrs Hoskins' car, stopping to sell her belongings on his way to the south coast, where he escaped to Europe. He became Britain's most notorious fugitive, with Interpol scouring the Continent for Farrant in one of the biggest-ever manhunts.

Mrs Hoskins' children believe Farrant should never have been free to kill their mum in the first place.

He had been previously jailed for 12 years in 1988 for raping a woman and causing her grievous bodily harm, as well as attacking another female with a bread knife. But he served just six years of that sentence - freeing him to commit murder.

He met Mrs Hoskins while on day release from prison in 1993.

Then, just a month after his early release from jail on 27 December 1995, Farrant visited former Downing Street secretary-turned sex worker Ann Fidler, before attacking her with bottles and an iron, leaving her with partial brain damage and no memory of the incident.

DNA evidence left at the scene could have linked Farrant to the brutal attack, and the Hoskins family believe he should have been apprehended before he had the opportunity to kill their mother.

Instead, the fiend picked up his relationship with Mrs Hoskins, who was separated from her husband Tony, and told her he was an airline pilot, according to Iain. When she ended the relationship, possessive Farrant started stalking her, before murdering her in her own home.

Katie said: "Our family has been massively let down by the prison system and the Home Office before.

"If Farrant hadn't worked the system to be let out early and unsupervised before; if the prison system had listened to his parole officer Judith Hartsilver, who could see through him and knew what he was; if he had been adequately supervised and had his fingerprints and DNA on every police database, then our mother would still be alive."

Farrant was still on the run when police made a direct appeal to him on Crimewatch UK to give himself up, as 10 women across Britain were under police protection because of him. He was finally arrested in July 1996, after a British tourist recognised him working at a hostel in Nice, France.

But it wasn't until January 1997 that Farrant was extradited to Britain. A year later he was found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of the murder of Mrs Hoskins and the attempted murder of Mrs Fidler.

He was jailed for life for Mrs Hoskins' murder and given a further 18 years for the attempted murder of Mrs Fidler. Judge Mr Justice Butterfield said the murder of Mrs Hoskins was "a ruthless, callous and evil act."

He added that her murder was a crime that was "planned, premeditated and committed in cold blood" with Farrant not prepared to tolerate rejection.

The judge called Farrant a "highly dangerous man" who had shown no remorse, telling him: "You have devastated the lives of many other people. The opportunity to do so again should not be allowed to you.

"This murder was so terrible and you are so dangerous that in your case the sentence of life imprisonment means just that. You will never be released."

'This brings to a close an agonising two months'

Iain, whose family wrote to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and James Cleverly, Secretary of State for the Home Department, pleading them not to free Farrant when his compassionate release was being considered, last night thanked MPs Penny Mordaunt, Kim Johnson, Flick Drummond and Mr Chalk for their support.

He added: "This brings to a close an agonising two months since we were contacted by the Justice Department about plans being made for his early release.

"As victims, the lack of information and clarity of the steps in this process was bewildering and unnecessary.

"Our feeling is that, while still respecting the judicial process, a huge amount of pain and mental anguish could have been spared by allowing us better access to the factual elements of his petition for release."

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Victor Farrant died on 3 May at HMP Wakefield. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed."