Revealed: The five murderers freed from life sentences to kill AGAIN

Andrew Dawson, George Johnson, Ernest Wright, David Cook and Desmond Lee were all allowed out on licence despite getting life sentences



Some even killed again within weeks of being released from prison



Bereft families of their victims say that 'life should mean life' for murderers

Freed to kill again: Convicted murderer Andrew Dawson called himself the 'Angel of Mercy' and butchered two neighbours after getting a life sentence for a 1981 killing

Five convicted killers released from jail have murdered again in the past four years, some just weeks after leaving custody, it was revealed today.

Andrew Dawson, George Johnson, Ernest Wright, David Cook and Desmond Lee were only given 'whole life' sentences after committing murder for the second time.

The families of their victims said today 'life should mean life'.

Even some relatives of the killers believe that their family-member should never have been released the first time round.

Convicted murderer Andrew Dawson branded himself the 'Angel of Mercy' after a series of murders.

He was given a life sentence in 1982 after admitting the murder of a 91-year-old Henry Walsh in his flat at Ormskirk, Lancashire, stabbing him a dozen times with bread knife.

Within weeks of his release in 2010, he stabbed defenceless John Matthews and Paul Hancock to death in separate attacks, before leaving their bodies in their bathtubs in Derby.

The 51-year-old told police he felt an 'urge to kill' before knocking on the men's doors in the block of flats, where he also lived, and hacked them to death.



Dawson then wrote a rambling note to police confessing to one of the killings which he signed: 'Yours, the Angel of Mercy'.

Murder scene: Dawson savagely attacked John Matthews and Paul Hancock in the block of flats that they shared with him, pictured, and then dumped their bodies in bathtubs

His own brother Malcolm told The Sun: 'My brother was clever and hoodwinked those in charge that he was no threat. But he was evil.

Cold blooded: George Johnson battered to death an 89-year-old widow after being released from jail after a sadistic murder in 1986

'If you kill you should be locked up forever, no question. My brother never apologised for what he did — he was just sorry he got caught'.

George Johnson murdered Gerald Homer in 1986 for just £3, forcing him to strip naked before hacking him to death, inflicting 35 wounds using knives and scissors in Wolverhampton.

He was freed in 2006 and five years later he battered to death 89-year-old widow Florence Habesch for £25 as she made a cup of tea. His attack was delivered with such force he caved in her skull.



His first victim's sister Eileen Dawson, 64, told The Sun today: 'Life should mean life, not just 15 or 20 years. If someone takes someone else's life, then why should they have their own?'

Her husband Vincent, 63, added: 'It isn't right. If life meant life then that old lady would be still alive today'.



Pensioner David Cook, 65, of Rhymney, South Wales, beat neighbour Leonard Hill, 64, senseless before throttling him with a TV flex in 2011.



Cook carried out the violent killing when next-door neighbour Mr Hill paid him a visit.



Afterwards Cook ransacked his neighbour’s bungalow, stealing his wallet before going to a nearby pub for a drink with locals.



The murder was chillingly similar to the strangulation of Sunday school teacher Beryl Maynard, which he did in 1987.



Cook then used a dressing gown cord and 'strangled her and killed her', his trial heard.

Killed again: Pensioner David Cook, 65, left, beat neighbour Leonard Hill, 64, right, senseless before throttling him with a TV flex in 2011 - 25 years after his first murder



Murdered: Victim Beryl Maynard (right), with her husband Roger and their two children, was strangled with a dressing gown cord in 1987 by David Cook

'Evil and dangerous' Desmond Lee killed his lover Christopher Pratt, before dumping his body in 2009.

Lee killed his lover by breaking his voice box and a bone in his neck.

The body was still in his flat when he stole Mr Pratt’s credit and debit cards, paid off a phone bill, bought booze for a party with neighbours, ordered more than £200-worth of food from Asda and attempted to buy £1,181-worth of goods from Argos.

Lee killed him while out on licence, having spent nearly 14 years in jail for the murder of Bradford woman Shirley Carr in 1989.



He suffocated Mrs Carr, who was his landlady, in November 1989 after she taunted him over the breakdown of a relationship.

Lee was jailed for life in 1990 but released on licence in 2004.

Twice jailed: 'Evil and dangerous' Desmond Lee killed his lover Christopher Pratt, before dumping his body in 2009, 20 years after he throttled and killed his landlady



In 2010 pensioner Ernest Wright was told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars after carrying out a shotgun execution 38 years after murdering another man



The 70-year-old had served 26 years in prison for a 1971 killing when he was freed on life licence in 1999.



Career criminal: Pensioner killer Ernest gunned a man down 38 years after his first murder

Despite his release he continued to mix in criminal circles and carried out several night-time burglaries, police said.



Then, in March three years ago, he gunned down Neville Corby, 42, after bursting into his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire.



Wearing a balaclava he twice reloaded his shotgun as he fired six shots at Mr Corby and his intended target, Craig Freear, 31, whom he had a long-standing feud with.



He was jailed in 1973 after beating Trevor Hale to death with an iron bar in Aylesbury, then trying to burn his body in a shallow grave.

All the five killers were ready for freedom by parole boards, but then murdered again, often in similar ways to their first homicide.

David Cameron is known to back 'whole life' terms for murderers, but Eurocrats fight them in Strasbourg because they believe they breach the offenders' human rights and are 'inhumane'.



Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said: 'Reoffending has been too high for too long and we are introducing significant reforms to the way offenders are rehabilitated and managed in the community.



'From 2015 all prisoners will for the first time receive a minimum 12 months' supervision on release and GPS satellite tags will also allow us to keep a much closer eye on them.



'Our changes will see the best of the voluntary, public and private sector working together to cut reoffending.'

It came as it was revealed that one in seven murders in Britain is committed by suspects freed on bail while awaiting trial for other crimes.



Last year 56 murders – more than one a week and a shocking 37 per cent rise on 2011 – were carried out by people bailed by the courts.



If they had been remanded in custody, the victims’ lives may have been saved.



