A man who attacked a woman who had dementia in a row over garden tools has been revealed as a child killer living under a pseudonym.

The father of three-year-old Lorraine Holt, who was murdered in January 1979, has criticised the Parole Board for giving Stephen Chafer the chance to reoffend.

Chafer was 17 when he was jailed for life for sexually assaulting Lorraine before stabbing her to death.

Now aged 57, he was convicted this month of the attempted murder of 60-year-old Fay Mills. He had been going by the name of Stephen Leonard when he attacked her.

Lorraine’s father, Jim Holt, told the BBC: “Because all of this has happened it’s brought all of [Lorraine’s death] back, not just to me, but to the whole of my family.”

Three-year-old Lorraine Holt was murdered in 1979. Photograph: PA

The toddler was playing in the snow outside her family home but wandered off, and was later found by Chafer sitting alone crying.

Chafer, who was Lorraine’s relative through marriage, carried her to the grounds of the nearby vicarage where he sexually assaulted her before stabbing her 39 times. He admitted her murder and was granted parole after serving 23 years in 2002.

He was returned to prison in 2013 for setting fire to his flat, risking the lives of the other residents in the building. He was released in 2017.

Chafer was convicted of the attempted murder of Mills on 23 June 2018 at her home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire police said.

At his trial in Cambridge, the court heard he launched a frenzied attack on Mills – whom he had known for about 15 years – after a row about a rake.

Mills’s injuries were so severe that when police arrived they believed she was already dead, but she survived.

The defendant claimed a “switch flicked in his head”. He was convicted of attempted murder and the common assault of her neighbour Mark Patchett, who tried to come to Mills’s aid, police said.

He lunged at Patchett with the knife before fleeing the property and leaving Mills for dead.

Jim Holt, who lives in Nottingham, said: “I knew he was out and knew at the back of my mind he would reoffend.

“Then I hear from the police and he’s back inside for arson and I’m like, ‘so you’ve had him twice and you’ve let him go?’. Now this has happened to the Mills family.”

Patchett, 48, said: “I found out not so long ago that [Chafer] had been in prison for the murder of a three-year-old. I think it’s disgusting and I think he never should have been let out.”

A spokeswoman for the Parole Board said: “Tragically, there are rare occasions when offenders go on to commit serious further offences after being released by the Parole Board.

“While this represents an extremely small proportion of cases considered, we do take each case extremely seriously and work with others in the criminal justice system to ensure that lessons are learned to help to prevent further tragedies.”

The defendant will be sentenced for attempted murder and common assault on 4 January.