A killer who tried to save a victim of the Fishmongers’ Hall terror attack has been cleared for release from prison.
James Ford, 44, was convicted of slashing the throat of disabled woman Amanda Champion during an unprovoked attack in July 2003.
Ford was in Fishmongers’ Hall, London as part of the Learning Together prisoner education event when Usman Khan launched a vicious knife attack, killing Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt.
At an inquest into the November 2019 deaths, it was revealed Ford had come to Saskia’s aid after she was attacked.
He was visibly emotional when he told the hearing at the Guildhall in the City of London: “Ms Jones was lying on her side, she was bleeding, she wasn’t really moving” before adding, “I can’t bring myself to say it, I saw the attacker.”
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Ford, a factory worker, was handed a life sentence in 2004 after admitting murdering Amanda, 21, who had the mental age of a 15-year-old.
She was strangled and slashed across the throat by Ford in a random attack in Ashford, Kent.
The Parole Board on Friday said at the time of Ford’s offending he was described as “being willing to use violence and a weapon as a way of dealing with anger, rejection and stress”.
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of James Ford following an oral hearing.
“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 parole board heard the killer had taken a range of courses during his sentence and he had been transferred to an open prison where he was “positive and compliant.”
Upon his release, Ford will be subject to strict licence condition including supervision and he will be limited on who he can contact and where he can go.
