STEVEN Ling remains behind bars for his brutal and cowardly actions 23 years ago.

But the mother of Joanne Tulip has had both grief and legal proceedings to cope with for more than two decades.

After Ling was convicted of Joanne's murder and sentenced, it later emerged he had told police that he wanted to kill himself because he had raped Joanne before killing her – but he never stood trial for rape.

Since then, Doreen has campaigned tirelessly for justice for her daughter, including a decade-long push for a change in the law which now means that both murder and rape charges are pursued through the courts.

This week, Doreen gave an update on her recent dialogue with the Parole Board.

She said: "The Parole Board made the decision to release Ling in to open prison subject to agreement by the Secretary of State. Open prison is a first step for offenders to integrate in to the community, renew family ties and restart their life in the outside world.

"At some point offenders can be granted day release on temporary licence and after a while overnight. However, unusually, as this is normally a rubber stamping exercise, the Secretary of State rejected the Parole Board decision and Ling remains in closed prison."

The next Parole Board Review will be back end 2021.