PARENTS of a teenager who was killed by her boyfriend say they are ‘gobsmacked and totally devastated,’ after receiving a letter saying that he could be released from prison.

Carly Fairhurst, aged 19, died in 2006 when her boyfriend, Darren Pilkington knocked her down a flight of stairs.

Pilkington was given an indeterminate sentence, which means that it had no fixed length of time, for her manslaughter and will go before a parole hearing on October 7, which could see him released.

Carly’s parents, Trevor and Sheila Fairhurst, of Park Road, Hindley, say that they fear that the panel will allow their ‘daughter’s killer’ to walk the streets again and are urging the community to petition for him to stay inside.

Sheila, 59, said: “Our lives ended in 2006, we got the life sentence but our daughter’s killer has a chance of being a free man, where is the justice in that?

“We are just gobsmacked and totally devastated that he could get out, after his initial three years he has been able to apply for parole each year and we keep having to deal with this.

“He could be a free man in a matter of weeks and the fact that he could hurt someone else needs to be considered by everyone in the community, not just those whose lives he has ruined.”

Pilkington, 33, has been applying for parole for 13 years after serving his minimum tariff of three years and 53 days.

If there had not been an incident at an open prison where he was not found in his cell, he could have already been released but because of that he was then moved to a higher category jail.

This means that he cannot return to a lower category prison before his release, so he could now be released on licence if the parole panel decide.

Sheila, who has been in therapy since her daughter’s death and along with her husband Trevor, 63, runs a charity to support victims of domestic abuse in memory of Carly, added: “Someone out there needs to start a petition to voice their concerns about him being a member of the general public.

“Then maybe someone in the system will take notice.”

Carly was just 15 when she started a relationship with Pilkington, who she knew before he was jailed in 2001 for punching and killing Paul Akister, from Hindley outside a pub.

She became Pilkington’s secret prison pen pal and when he was released they moved into a flat together.

For more information on Trevor and Sheila’s charity that supports victims of domestic abuse visit, thecarlyfund.co.uk.