A man who murdered a Fife teenager 18 years ago has been refused parole for a second time.
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 a minimum of 17 years behind bars and subsequently moved south to be closer to his family – who 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.
Evans, who was 18 when he was jailed, was subsequently eligible for a further review and a paper hearing took place in September.
Prisoners have 28 days in which to request an oral hearing, which Evans did not.
The Parole Board has now confirmed he was once again refused release.
Karen’s mum Alison Dewar previously said Evans should never be released, adding he would be a threat to the public if he ever got out of prison.
Reacting the the parole board’s latest decision, Alison said: “It’s a massive relief and we welcome the decision.
“We don’t want another family to go through through what we have gone through. And it’s not just family, it’s friends as well.
“[If Evans were to be released] he is still young enough to have a family of his own.”
At the time of Karen’s murder, Evan – then 17 – lived on the same street as the Dewar family in Tayport.
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.
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