THE father of murdered 18-year-old Liane Singleton has spoken of his family’s devastation after they were told her killer will now walk free after serving 20 years in jail.

Despite the protests of her parents Gordon and Jacky Singleton, backed by their MP Debbie Abrahams and a 6,000-name petition, Paul Stowers has been granted parole.

Stowers, then aged 29, strangled, punched and stamped on Liane before her body was dismembered with a butcher’s knife in May, 1998.

He then dumped her remains in bin bags in the back yard of a property on Hollins Road, in Hollinwood.

Stowers later pleaded guilty to the murder and was given a life sentence in December, 1998, which was set at a minimum of 15 years.

Twenty years after her death Gordon and Jacky, who still live in Shaw, found out Stowers was applying for parole.

In just a few days, they raised the petition and had already gained the support of Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Ms Abrahams.

Gordon, aged 59, told The Oldham Times: “There is no way he should walk the streets again, and we will not stop in our attempts to prevent him from being released.

“Our whole family are totally devastated by what Stowers did, but I have no fear of him.

“We’re grateful to Debbie for her help with bringing this issue to the attention of the Government because as a family we’ve been haunted by the judge’s decision to only give Stowers 15 years.

“His crime was so brutal we firmly believe that, in his case, life really should mean life.”

Ms Abrahams raised the issue in the House of Commons on Monday when, in a question to parliamentary under secretary of state for justice Edward Argar, she said: “Jacky and Gordon Singleton have been trying to prevent the release of Stowers in a petition to this house two months ago.

“Today, they have found out that they have failed. They feel dreadfully let down by the criminal justice system and totally powerless in their ability to influence the parole board.”

Replying to Ms Abrahams, Mr Argar said: “While it would be wrong for me to go into detail of the specific case on the floor of the House, what I can say about the parole board is that we will be taking steps to make sure the victims’ statement read and used in these hearings.

“We are making changed to the victim contact scheme, including rolling out new training for victim liaison officers. We will be doing that by the end of 2018 and making changes by the end of 2019.

“But on the broader point, we have consulted on the detail of a mechanism for parole decisions to be reconsidered in certain circumstances and we are carefully considering all the responses to that and will set out our next steps later this year.

“In addition we are carrying out a review of all parole board rules which will be complete by the end of this year.”

Mr Argar said when the process was complete he would be willing to meet Ms Abrahams “if she thinks that would be helpful”.