Murderer jailed for life after beating then strangling his pregnant partner got job with Next

A murderer jailed for life for strangling his pregnant partner got a job with Next after changing his name via deed poll. 

Darren Appleyard, who is serving his sentence at an open prison, took a warehouse role as part of a work experience scheme run by the retailer. 

The scheme for prisoners was launched in 2018, but is closed to serious offenders including murderers and rapists. 

But Next had no idea of Appleyard’s true identity or criminal history, and has accused the Prison Service of withholding vital information that would have made him ineligible for a role.  

Appleyard, 52, beat and strangled his partner Lisa Collings, 29, to death when she was 22 weeks pregnant in a horrifying attack witnessed by Ms Collings’s five-year-old daughter. 

He was found guilty in 2007 and described as a ‘highly dangerous bully’ who would serve a minimum of 17 years before he was eligible for parole. 

Darren Appleyard, who is serving time at an open prison, took a role at a warehouse as part of a work experience scheme. Pictured right: His victim, Lisa Collings 

Anyone accepted on Next’s prisoners scheme undergoes risk assessments by the Prison Service and Next. The inmates are paid the same amount as other staff.

Next said that Appleyard worked in the warehouse for a week before his real name and identity was found out, The Sun reported. 

The retailer, one of Britain’s largest, said: ‘We have been let down by the Prison Service as disclosure was not as it should have been.’

Ms Collings’s father, Gerry, 67, called the revelation ‘scandalous’. 

Appleyard is set to be released from HMP Hatfield, an open prison in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, next year.

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Prisoners only ever take part in work experience after robust risk assessments.’

The full details of Appleyard’s horrific crime were revealed at his trial at Liverpool Crown Court. 

Next had no idea of Appleyard’s true identity or criminal history and accused the Prison Service of withholding vital information which would have made him ineligible

Ms Collings’s daughter witnessed the attack while Appleyard’s two children from a previous marriage, a nine-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy, were also in a room downstairs at the family home in Wigan.

The court heard how Ms Collings’s daughter ran downstairs and told the children: ‘Your daddy is going to kill my mummy.’

Andrew Edis, QC, prosecuting, described the attack – which happened during a row about childcare – ‘serious and sustained’. 

Judge Gerald Clifton told him: ‘You are a highly dangerous bully when it comes to your women folk.’