Depraved Corby murderer Adam Stein back behind bars as Collette Gallacher's family ask ‘how many chances is he going to get?’

Sadistic Adam Stein, who murdered an innocent six-year-old in Corby 36 years ago, has been ordered back to jail after breaching the conditions of his release.

Little Collette Gallacher was abducted, raped and murdered by Stein in the town in 1986. Locals searched for her for days, and she was found in Stein’s attic in Ashley Road. He was caught and was later sentenced to life in jail.

After thirty years, in March 2016, he was released on a life licence and moved to the East of England. But within 16 months he had committed a series of driving offences and was sent back to jail.

He was again let out of prison by the parole board on March 8 last year, despite pleas from Collette’s devastated family.

Now Collette’s mum Karen Holmes and her sisters Claire and Lauren have been informed that Stein has again been recalled to prison after breaching the terms of his licence.

Those terms include not being able to come to Corby, not being able to have access to under-18s and a string of other stipulations.

Lauren said the continued release and recall cycle is catastrophic for their family. She said: “Each and every time our mum is put straight back to the darkest days of her life. Never being able to fully move on, never having peace as Stein repeatedly re-offends. Always waiting for the next change of circumstances, and the merry go round of hurt continues.”

The Ministry of Justice have confirmed that Stein was recalled on July 26 and was returned to prison the following day.

But the women are not allowed to know exactly why Stein – who has since changed his name – was recalled. Neither are they allowed to know what prison he is in.

Stein, who is now 62, can apply to the parole board to consider his case once he has been inside for 28 days. Collette’s family have been asked to prepare a statement for that hearing.

Lauren said that the emotional turmoil of the loss of Collette continues to impact their family. She said: “Her death has impacted every aspect of our lives. The way we were brought up, our trust in the world, our own parenting, how we view life, our physical and mental well-being. When you know the full extent of how dangerous the world is from such a young age, when all your friends are carefree and enjoying childhood, it brings a lifetime of anxiety and fear.

“When Stein murdered Collette, he took more than one life and ruined many forever. Every happy occasion or celebration we have is marred with thoughts of what ifs?

"What would Collette be like? Would she be married with children of her own? Would we have extra nieces and nephews to buy Christmas presents for? Her loss is still noticed and will be felt by us all forever.

“Murder of a child is one of the worst crimes you can commit and yet Stein has still been given the opportunity of a new start. A chance to be rehabilitated and integrate back into society. Not just once chance, multiple chances, to show some remorse and to take the chance Collette never had, and do right by it.

“Instead we watch him go from closed prison to open prison, back to closed prison, back to open prison, released, recalled, released and now once again, recalled. He is literally demonstrating time and time again that he has no desire to lead an honest, law-abiding life. How many chances does he get? Collette has zero.

“Claire and I put our lives on hold last year to fight tooth and nail to ensure Stein was released on the very highest level of monitoring and to be on the sex offenders’ register. We needed to know he would have the very top level of restrictions to keep women and children safe after his release.

"We put our heart and soul into everything we did which had a detrimental effect on both of our mental well-being. Yet here we are back in the cycle again already.

“If all the restrictions and conditions implemented on the offenders last release - the highest level of mappa monitoring, the extra conditions being on the SOR brought, the written assurance from Justice Secretary Robert Buckland that the offender would be tightly managed at the highest of levels - if all of that was in place and he has still reoffended, then we can only conclude surely that he will never be safely monitored in the community? Thirty six years after he murdered Collette he is STILL offending.

“His rights appear to override the safety of women and children in society. Rehabilitation can and does happen, but in this case, he repeatedly shows no desire to be rehabilitated.

"State institutions are set up to prevent and control crime and disorder, and to provide citizens with security and protection.

“It very much feels to us that it's the offender in this case who gets the security and protection, not the public.”

Stein was placed on the sex offenders’ register last May after a campaign by this newspaper. He was never automatically placed on the list because he committed his offences years before the register was first brought into force.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Protecting the public is our number one priority so when offenders breach the conditions of their release, we don’t hesitate to return them to custody.”