Tom Bonnett at Sky News Online reports that Tracie Andrews, who stabbed her fiance and then claimed he was killed in a road rage attack in 1996, has been allowed out of jail to go on a shopping trip in York with a friend.
She is nearing the end of the 14 year minimum life term she was given for the murder of 37 year old Lee Harvey. Before her arrest she appeared on television in tears to describe the apparent road rage incident, a fact which may have increased the strength of feeling against her.
Without commenting on the individual circumstances of the case the Ministry of Justice said that shopping trips were part of the rehabilitation and resettlement programme designed to reduce the risk of reoffending after release, and only those prisoners deemed not to be a danger to the public are eligible.
Sky news reports that Mr Harvey's mother Maureen, 62, has spoken to The Sun newspaper, saying: : "I did know about this. To be honest it's very upsetting and traumatic." For Mrs Harvey, as for many of us I suspect, it is difficult to believe that 14 years has elapsed since this murder hit the headlines.
Interestingly, the media reports have disclosed that since she was jailed, Tracie Andrews has changed her name to Tia Carter and has had plastic surgery to change the appearance of her lower jaw. No comment is made as to whether she intended to change her identity to avoid reprisals, but if so presumably she will now have to go through that process again.
