Maria Pearson: Britain's longest-serving female prisoner back behind bars weeks after release

Britain's longest-serving female prisoner, who carried out the "cruel and vicious" murder of a love rival, has been returned to jail weeks after being released on licence.

Maria Pearson was freed in August after a Parole Board decided she no longer posed a risk to the public.

But the 70-year-old killer, from Hartlepool, was later recalled to prison for breaching a condition of her licence.

The mother-of-three was jailed for life in 1987 after being found guilty, then aged 31, of stabbing to death 23-year-old Janet Newton, who was her ex-boyfriend's new partner.

The trial judge described it as a "cruel and vicious" murder, and she was told she would have to serve a minimum of 12 years behind bars - a prison term she completed in October 1998.

But she has remained in jail since, spending two periods in an open prison before being returned to higher-security jails because of fears over her behaviour.

Officials said Pearson was in a bigamous relationship with her second husband at the time of the murder, remaining married to her first, according to the summary of the Parole Board decision.

When her second partner met Ms Newton and decided to annul the marriage, Pearson was concerned she would lose their home and custody of a child.

She fatally attacked Ms Newton as she left her house, after working out her victim's movements and routines.

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The Parole Board's decision to free her earlier this year was the 10th time it had considered her case.

Among the conditions of her release were living at a designated address, keeping to a curfew that included electronic tagging for a year, and sticking by restrictions to avoid contact with the victim's family.

Following Pearson's jail recall, Ms Newton's sister, Lynn Hamilton, told Teesside Live: "I hope with all my heart that she stops in prison until the day she dies, there is no place in society for her, she has proven that by being recalled only two weeks after release."

A spokesperson for HM Prison and Probation Service said: "Prisoners released on licence are kept under tight supervision.

"As this case shows, we do not hesitate to put them straight back behind bars if they break the rules."

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