Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner is set to be released after a Parole Board panel found she no longer posed a risk to the public.
Maria Pearson, now 70, from Hartlepool, stabbed her ex-boyfriend’s new partner Janet Newton to death in 1986 and was jailed for life the following year.
Pearson, 31 at the time, was found guilty of what the trial judge described as “the cruel and vicious” murder of her 23-year-old love rival.
In the Parole Board decision summary, officials said Pearson was in a bigamous relationship with her second husband at the time of the murder, remaining married to her first.
It was when her second partner met Newton, and decided to annul their marriage, Pearson was left fearing she would lose their home and custody of a child.
She tracked Newton’s movements and routines, and fatally attacked her as she left her house.
