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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Antony Thrower & Neal Keeling

'Coronation Street rapist' with 13 life sentences back in jail 6 WEEKS after release

A vile rapist who was handed 13 life sentences for his crimes but allowed out after 34 years has been recalled to prison after just six weeks.

Andrew Barlow, formerly known as Andrew Longmire, was previously slammed as “despicable” by ex-Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab before he left jail.

The 66-year-old was given 11 life sentences in 1988 for raping 11 women and an additional 56 years for other offences.

In 2010, and then again in 2017, he received two more life sentences after rapes he committed in 1981 and 1982 were linked to him through advances in DNA technology.

His release was delayed when the then Justice Minister asked the Parole Board to reconsider its decision.

(MEN Media)

Barlow is now back in prison for breach of his licence conditions, Manchester Evening News reported.

Manchester MP, Graham Stringer said: “It is extraordinary.

“I think this is another failure of the Parole Board to use common sense and protect the public from a very dangerous man.

“They were warned by me and the victims. This is institutional failure of the highest order."

Barlow was dubbed The Coronation Street rapist as most of the victims were attacked in their own terraced homes in the north of England - the majority living in Greater Manchester.

Two of the attacks took place in the street. He also struck in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and South Yorkshire in the early 1980s, and then again from August 1987 until January 1988 when he was arrested.

(MEN Media)

A relative of a woman Barlow raped in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 said: "I took it on the chin in January and decided to get on with my life when Barlow was released - now this animal is back in our lives again.

“We told the authorities and they didn't listen. Someone has to be accountable for this.

“It will mean all the victims and their families are reliving the agony again like we had to in January when we tried in vain to stop his release. We told the authorities he was too high a risk and we have been proven right.

"I would like to sit down with someone from the Parole Board face to face and tell them what happened to our family because of Barlow - not submit an email like I had to in January."

Responding to Mr Stringer's criticism regarding the release then recall of Barlow, a spokesman for the Parole Board said: "The offender has not been referred back to us for a parole review and so we don’t have access to any information about him being recalled and therefore we don’t have comment at this stage."

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