A mother has vowed to let ‘everyone know the name’ of the killer who raped and murdered her daughter as a legal loophole will see him released but not monitored on the sex offenders’ register.
Farm worker Steven Ling raped Joanne Tulip, 29, before stabbing her 60 times in a ferocious murder at his home on Christmas Day 1997.
But the rape charge – although it was admitted by Ling – was allowed to lie on file by the trial judge which means Ling will escape the strict monitoring he should receive as a dangerous sex offender.
Pictured: Farm worker Steven Ling (right, after his arrest in 1997) raped Joanne Tulip (left), 29, before stabbing her 60 times in a ferocious murder at his home on Christmas Day 1997
Joanne’s mother Doreen Soulsby – horrified by the recent decision to release Black Cab Rapist John Worboys – has vowed to let every woman in the country know who Ling is.
She believes he will pose a threat to any woman in the community where he is allowed to settle unchecked when he is released.
Mrs Soulsby, of Stamfordham, Northumberland, will attend his forthcoming parole hearing in person to argue against his anticipated release.
Ling, 23 at the time, was jailed for life in 1998 but will be considered for parole later this month.
He was jailed for at least 20 years after admitting the savage killing but, because he was not convicted of rape, he will not be on the sex offenders’ register when he leaves prison which could be within weeks.
Despite Ling admitting to police that he had ‘sexual intercourse without consent’ with Joanne, and that he ‘wanted to kill himself because he had raped her’, the judge agreed with the defence that it would be an abuse of court process to allow the prosecution to pursue the rape charge.
Joanne’s mother Doreen Soulsby (pictured above at her home in Northumberland) – horrified by the recent decision to release Black Cab Rapist John Worboys – has vowed to let every woman in the country know who Ling is
Mrs Soulsby fought for a decade to change the law, insisting that sexual offences were tried alongside murder to close the loophole surrounding monitoring on their release.
With the help of her MP she succeeded in changing the law – but it came too late make any difference in Ling’s case.
Doreen Soulsby said she was ‘terrified’ he could be released in light of the Parole Board’s decision on Worboys.
He was approved for release after serving eight years for multiple rapes, although he remains in prison while the decision is appealed by several of his victims.
Mrs Soulsby said if Ling is released, she will campaign for the board to make its reasoning public, an issue also raised by the Worboys case.
I never want him released
Mrs Soulsby said: ‘At the time, Ling made a statement about having sex with Ms Tulip, whom he had met in a pub earlier that day, against her will before going back to his home in Stamfordham. Mrs Soulsby said he would not be on the sex offenders’ register if released as he was not convicted of rape.
‘The Parole Board’s decision should be transparent. He has committed the worst sex offence with Joanne and if he gets out and is not a convicted sex offender nobody will know what he has done.
‘I never want him released.’
Mrs Soulsby, who will appear in person at the Parole Board hearing, said Ling was not safe to be let out.
Both the board and Ministry of Justice previously said they are legally prohibited from disclosing Parole Board decisions.
Ling met Miss Tulip during a drunken night out in a pub in Stamfordham on Christmas Eve 1997 and convinced her to go back to his house.
Once there, he took a knife and, after threatening to commit suicide, forced himself upon her before stabbing her and attempting to suffocate her with a pillow or duvet.
When the knife broke, Ling went to the kitchen, took another blade and continued the vicious attack, before trying and failing to cut his wrists.
Miss Tulip sustained 60 injuries, including 31 knife wounds, some of them lacerations to her hands as she desperately tried to defend herself. He also attempted to carve a swastika or cross on her collar and forced a cigarette into her body.
Setting his tariff at 20 years in 1999, Mr Straw described the attack as ‘butchery’, Ling having caused sadistic injuries to achieve ‘perverted pleasure’.
Solicitors for Ling told how he had now come to terms with what he had done, describing himself as having become a ‘monster’.
Mr Justice Owen said: ‘Steven Ling committed what was rightly described by the Secretary of State as a ‘depraved and horrific murder’.
‘The offence was aggravated by the fact that it was committed to silence his victim, whom he had injured and mutilated in a sadistic manner.’