Corby child killer RELEASED from prison this morning

Adam Stein, pictured in 1986. Image: JPI Media.

It comes just days after Collette’s family heard their appeal against his release had failed

Collette Gallacher’s killer Adam Stein had been released from prison this morning.

Stein, 61, who abducted and murdered the Corby six-year-old while she was on her way to school in February 1986, was released from custody to an undisclosed address in the south east of England.

Collette’s family have not seen an up-to-date picture of the brute so they do not know what he currently looks like, but he is not allowed to travel to Northamptonshire or make any contact with them. He will be under strict release conditions and will be electronically monitored.

Adam Stein being taken into court in summer 1986. Image: JPI Media.

Collette’s family launched a campaign, with the backing of this newspaper and of two former home secretaries, to try to get Stein on the sex offenders register. Because he committed his crimes before 1997 and because a rape charge was allowed to lie on file, Stein will not be on the register.

But it is believed that Stein had attacked women before and he has admitted a sexual interest in children.After the family’s campaign was launched, Stein’s risk level on release was heightened to MAPPA level 3 - reserved for the most serious offenders where there is media interest and a risk of public confidence in the criminal justice system being undermined.

They had also appealed to the parole board to rethink the decision to release him, but that appeal failed last week.This is the second time that Stein, formerly of Ashley Avenue, Corby, has been released. He was initially released in 2016 but committed a series of driving offences just 14 months later and was sent back to jail.

Police have said that anyone who may have been attacked by Stein in the past can still come forward, despite the passage of time.