A man who admitted the rape and murder of a woman he stabbed 60 times during sex 27 years ago should be freed from prison, the Parole Board has said.
Steven Ling was jailed for life in December 1998 after admitting an attack on Joanne Tulip, 29, in Stamfordham, Northumberland.
He has been recommended for release following his fifth parole hearing.
A charge of rape was left on file during the original court case, so he is not a convicted sex offender, but in its ruling the Parole Board stated: “Mr Ling has always accepted that he raped the victim.”
His vicious murder of Ms Tulip on Christmas Day 1997 was inspired by sadism, the sentencing judge said back in 1998.
Jailing him for life at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Justice Potts told Ling he “inflicted appalling injuries on (Ms Tulip) while you were having sexual relations with her.
The judge said he was satisfied that Ling was partly motivated by “an aspiration of sadism”, telling him he would “never be released so long as it is thought you constitute a danger to women.”
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Ling, who was 23 at the time of the murder, was handed a minimum term of 20 years which was reduced to 18 years by the High Court.
At a public parole hearing in July this year, which was live-streamed for the public to follow, two psychologists agreed that Ling should be freed from prison and spoke of his enduring “shame” about his “monstrous” past.
Ms Tulip’s mother Doreen Soulsby had branded the parole exercise a farce after it was ruled that the killer’s evidence could be given in private.
Two psychologists, identified only as A and B, recommended Ling could be released from prison on a risk management plan.
Psychologist A believed the risk Ling posed was “not imminent” and was “manageable in the community”, adding: “I believe that now means his risk is at a level where he does not need to be kept in prison anymore.”
Psychologist B told the panel: “I believe he meets the test for release and no longer needs to be detained for the protection of the public.”
The panel heard that a past risk assessment identified several factors that led to him attacking Ms Tulip which included preoccupation with sex, sexual interest in indecent exposure, capacity to use force to secure sexual gratification, entitlement towards sex, and a negative attitude towards women.
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The assessment also identified issues in Ling’s own self-worth and self-esteem.
In 2022, then justice secretary Dominic Raab rejected a request to transfer Ling to a lower security jail. The move overruled a recommendation made by the Parole Board earlier that year.
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It was the first intervention of its kind made by Mr Raab after he promised to personally review requests to move high-risk offenders to open jails.
A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesman confirmed at the time that Mr Raab had rejected Ling’s move “in the interest of public protection”.
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A similar request was blocked by MoJ officials when Ling’s case came before the Parole Board in 2020.
Ms Soulsby, who reportedly called on Mr Raab to keep Ling in a closed prison and won the support of several MPs to that end, told The Telegraph at the time that the news was “such a relief”.
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