Britain’s longest serving female lag, who brutally murdered love rival, denied parole after ninth bid for freedom
THE UK's longest-serving female prisoner who stabbed a woman 17 times has been denied parole for the ninth time.
Maria Pearson, 66, was caged after she stabbed her ex-boyfriend's new partner Janet Newton to death in 1986.
Pearson, from Hartlepool, Co Durham, was jailed for life the following year and had to serve a minimum of 11 years behind bars.
The killer, aged 31 when she was caged, has served an extra 23 years past her original sentence.
A Parole Board panel, which sat on April 13 2022 and January 17 2023, ruled that given the harrowing nature of the murder, her conduct in custody and subsequent evidence at her hearing, she would not be eligible for parole.
Likewise, Pearson will not be moved to an open prison.
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The mum-of-three had twice been granted a move to an open prison only to be returned to a closed one.
The panel was told Pearson had been "willing to resort to violence" as a way of managing difficult situations in her life at the time of the murder.
Pearson was also "willing to resort to violence" to manage personal difficulties she was experiencing before she murdered Newton, the panel heard.
In 2014, the killer took part in a programme to help her with her decision-making but admitted to the parole panel that she had told facilitators "what she thought they wanted to hear".
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In 2020, Pearson signed up to offer support for those struggling with complex behavioural problems.
That year the parole board decided she could move to an open prison, which she did in June 2021, but three months later Pearson was moved back to a closed jail.
Her release plan had included a requirement to live in designated accommodation as well as strict curbs on her contacts, movements and activities.
Pearson was reportedly unhappy with those demands.