It was the day she hoped and prayed would never come. Joan Robinson is today living in fear knowing the evil killer that raped and murdered her sister is back on the streets despite her desperate fight to keep him behind bars.
Frail Jean Whitfield didn’t stand a chance when the brute forced his way into her flat before beating and raping her and then drowning her in the bath.
Wade, who targeted Jean in 1999, just months after being released from prison for another violent attack, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years after he was convicted of rape and murder. The killer repeatedly applied for parole after his minimum jail term came to an end, but his initial bids for freedom were knocked back.
But last year the Chronicle revealed that a Parole Board panel had ruled that Wade when he was jailed, was now safe to be freed, despite hearing how he “bore grudges” and was “quick to show aggression and anger.” And he was freed on February 17.
Today Joan, who has fought tirelessly to keep her sister’s killer behind bars, has told how she is now living in fear knowing Wade is at large. The 62-year-old said: “It has been terrible.
“I have just felt sick and nervous all the time. I have no idea where he is or what he looks like now.”
Jean, who suffered from arthritis, was killed in August 1999 at her home in Birtley, Gateshead. When the 42-year-old’s partner, Denis Fallon, returned home from work he found her lifeless body underwater in the bath.
(Image: Joan Robinson)
Wade’s case was considered at a parole hearing on October 14. The panel heard how, at the time of Jean’s murder, Wade displayed “anti-social and paranoid behaviour” and found “intimate relationships” difficult. It was also said that he “bore grudges, had a low tolerance for frustration and would be quick to show aggression and anger.”
The panel was also told of the progress the killer had made in prison, where he had completed programmes to address his sexual offending and courses to help him develop his understanding of the dangers and effects of alcohol. And all professional witnesses that gave evidence to the panel recommended that Wade be released.
Joan, who lives in Chester-le-Street, believes Wade should never have been freed. “He can just get on with his life now,” she said.
“Unfortunately Jean doesn’t get a second chance, and I don’t get why these people do. He chose to take her life, he wasn’t forced into killing her. I can’t get my head round how these people can get out when they are capable of things like that.”
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Joan has been told that Wade will not be allowed into Chester-le-Street and will be monitored by a tag initially. However, she is still fearful. And she says her request for an up-to-date photograph of the killer has been refused.
“I have asked for an up-to-date picture and I’m not allowed,” she added. “And I’m not allowed to know where he is.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/murder-birtley-wade-jean-whitfield-31177764
