UK’s longest-serving female prisoner who stabbed love rival to death is hauled back to jail just weeks after release

BRITAIN’S longest serving female prisoner is back behind bars just weeks after being released. Killer Maria Pearson walked free last month after serving almost 40 years behind bars for stabbing love rival Janet Newton to death in October 1986. Maria Pearson murdered her ex-boyfriend’s new partner in a jealous rage Credit: Handout Janet Newton was stabbed to death in 1986 Credit: Handout The Parole Board turned down nine previous bids for freedom but backed her release in June, despite warnings she may still pose a “high risk” of causing “serious harm”. However, after only being freed weeks ago, Pearson has now been returned to prison after breaching a condition in her licence. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Ms Newton’s sister Lynn said in response it was the “most positive update that myself and my family could have hoped for”. She added she hopes the lag, now 70, will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Lynn told TeessideLive: “I don’t believe she should have been released after the prison psychologist recommended an open prison first as she was highly likely to re offend. “The parole board need to take accountability that they dismissed recommendations and made the wrong decision. “A lesson needs to be learned. I hope with all my heart that she stops in prison until the day she dies, there is no place in society for her, she has proven that by being recalled only two weeks after release.” Mum-of-three Pearson, from Hartlepool, County Durham, then 31, stabbed 23-year-old Ms Newton 17 times in a jealousy-fuelled attack. Most read in The Sun She was given an IPP – Imprisonment for Public Protection – and was told she had to serve at least 12 years behind bars. IPPs were a form of indeterminate sentence in which offenders were given a minimum jail tariff but no maximum. They were scrapped in 2012 but not retrospectively. Pearson’s minimum tariff expired in October 1998 but she was denied parole nine times. In June it was revealed the Parole Board had found she had met the test for release, having been twice moved to an open prison before being returned to high security lock-ups. Pearson married welder Malcolm Pearson bigamously in 1986 – days after the birth of their daughter Rachel. But her “intense and stormy” relationship with Malcolm was “doomed” and their baby was taken into care after a serious incident at home. After the split, Malcolm moved on with new girlfriend Janet and wanted to annul his marriage with Pearson. Pearson was left fearing that she would lose their home and custody of a child. This sparked a rage-fuelled campaign by Pearson who abused Janet in the street and sent bile-filled letters to her mum. She tracked Janet’s movements and routines, and killer her as she left her house. During her trial, the judge described Pearson’s actions as “cruel and vicious” and sentenced her to life in prison. Pearson tried to blame her husband but this was dismissed, with the judge finding that she was “obsessive and jealous”. The panel’s decision from June read: “The panel concluded in a finely balanced decision that Ms Pearson met the test for release. “The panel was satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public and that she poses no more than a minimal risk of further serious offending.” The Sun has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment. Comment now