A serial sex attacker, dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’ has launched a parole bid despite breaking rules when he was last released from jail.
Andrew Barlow, 67, from Bolton in Lancashire, earned his nickname after attacking several women in their own terraced homes in Manchester – reminiscent of the set used in the iconic soap.
The predator was first locked up in October 1988 when he was convicted of 11 rapes, three attempted rapes, indecent assault and using a firearm to resist arrest.
A serial sex attacker, dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’ has launched a parole bid despite breaking rules when he was last released from jail.
Andrew Barlow, 67, from Bolton in Lancashire, earned his nickname after attacking several women in their own terraced homes in Manchester – reminiscent of the set used in the iconic soap.
The predator was first locked up in October 1988 when he was convicted of 11 rapes, three attempted rapes, indecent assault and using a firearm to resist arrest.
He was subsequently found guilty of two further rapes in 2010 and in 2017, both committed during the 1980s.
But Barlow, formerly known as Andrew Longmire, spent just 34 years in jail and was freed on parole in March last year – despite then justice secretary Dominic Raab attempting to halt his release.
The rapist, who was hauled back to jail after breaching conditions, will ask to be freed again at an appeal hearing on Wednesday, June 19.
A source told The Sun: ‘He believes he shouldn’t have been recalled and isn’t a threat.’
Barlow was handed thirteen life sentences for his campaign of terror across five counties during the 1980s.
The brute raped a woman in front of her three-year-old child, who was hiding behind the sofa in their home.
He was also found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl by breaking into her home at around 8:45am when her parents had left the house.
Barlow threatened the ‘petrified’ girl with a knife before pulling her clothes off and raping her.
The serial rapist would spend days carrying out reconnaissance on the victims’ homes to work out their domestic routines.
Knowing when a victim’s partners or parents would leave for work allowed Barlow to attack the victims alone.
Barlow’s initial release in 2023 left Barlow’s victims furious after they campaigned tirelessly with their families to keep the rapist behind bars.
Last year a relative of a woman Barlow raped in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 told Manchester Evening News: ‘I took it on the chin in January and decided to get on with my life when Barlow was released – now this animal is back in our lives again. We told the authorities and they didn’t listen.
‘Someone has to be accountable for this. It will mean all the victims and their families are reliving the agony again like we had to in January when we tried in vain to stop his release.
‘We told the authorities he was too high a risk and we have been proven right.
‘I will like to sit down with someone from the Parole Board face to face and tell them what happened to our family because of Barlow’.
Commenting on Barlow’s appeal, a spokesman for the Parole Board said: ‘An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Andrew Barlow and is scheduled to take place in June 2024.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
‘A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
‘Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.’
The spokesman added: ‘Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.
‘The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.
‘Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’
