The mum of a Fife teenager who was brutally murdered 18 years ago has urged authorities never to release her killer.
Welshman Colyn Evans killed 16-year-old Karen Dewar in Tayport in 2005 by strangling and stabbing her before stuffing her body in a bin and setting it on fire.
He was sentenced to 17 years behind bars and subsequently moved south to be closer to his family – which returned to Wales from their home in Kennoway – in preparation for his eventual release.
Evans applied for parole last March, having served the 17 years, as well as requesting a move to an open prison.
Both submissions were rejected by the Parole Board for England and Wales.
Now Karen’s mum Allison Dewar has spoken out about Evans’ parole bid, saying the killer would be a threat to the public if he were ever released.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, she said: “The world is a much safer place when he’s on the inside because he will definitely do it again. He won’t be able to help himself.”
Allison said Evans “took everything away” from her Karen’s family.
She added: “My husband will never be able to walk her up the aisle.
‘You think it gets easier but I’m not sure it does’
“I’ll never get the chance to be a granny. You think it gets easier but I’m not sure it does. You just get used to it.”
Evans, then 17, lived on the same street as the Dewar family – Karen and parents Allison and Frank – in Tayport and she had befriended him as a new arrival in the area.
It later emerged the troubled teenager had been in the community with little monitoring, despite his extensive record of concerning and deviant behaviour.
His first sex offence – an indecent exposure – came when he was just 12 and he was later charged with lewd and libidinous behaviour following inappropriate sexual conduct with two girls under the age of 16.
Months afterwards, Evans was accused of trying to remove a young boy from school by producing a fake note, pretending it was from the boy’s parents and was also reported for attacking an eight-year-old boy and indecent exposure.
Online justice affairs magazine 1919 said it is understood Evans will be eligible for a further review “in due course” but no details were released as to when that would be.
