Noye, 71, has served 19 years over fatal stabbing of Stephen Cameron on M25 in Kent

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The road-rage killer Kenneth Noye is to be freed from prison after serving 19 years, the parole board has said.

The 71-year-old, who is at Standford Hill open prison in Kent, was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years in 2000.

A spokeswoman said a parole board panel concluded he no longer represented a significant risk to the public. “We can confirm that a panel of the parole board has directed the release of Kenneth Noye following an oral hearing,” she said.

The panel, which included a psychologist and two judges, heard evidence that Noye had a “proven ability to control his emotions”.

The spokeswoman added: “Parole board decisions are solely focused on whether someone would represent a significant risk to the public after release. The panel will have carefully looked at a whole range of evidence, including details of the original evidence and any evidence of behaviour change.”

The decision means Noye, who is 72 on Friday, will be released within about three months.

Noye was convicted of murder in April 2000 after fatally stabbing Stephen Cameron, a 21-year-old electrician, in an attack on the M25 in Kent in 1996.

Cameron’s father, Ken, told Sky News: “I’m totally devastated. I hoped this day would never come. Life should mean life.”

Under a risk management plan, Noye must reside at a designated address, be subject to close monitoring and will be banned from visiting certain areas. The panel said it was satisfied the plan was sufficiently robust to enable Noye’s risk to be managed safely in the community.

He first became eligible to be considered for release in April 2015 and was transferred to an open prison in 2017. Two previous panels decided he presented too much of a risk to return to society.

The case is the most high-profile decision to come before the parole board since its decision to release the serial sex attacker John Worboys was overturned last year.

In the wake of public anger over the Worboys decision, the government introduced reforms to allow victims of crime the ability to challenge parole board decisions. But the new measures do not come into force until July, so the only option for challenging the decision to release Noye will be a judicial review.

After his conviction, Noye went on the run to Spain claiming he could not get a fair trial in the UK, before being extradited back to Britain and convicted.

He had previously been acquitted by a jury after stabbing an undercover police officer to death in 1985. After hearing his dogs bark he found DC John Fordham camouflaged in his garden, and said he stabbed him in self-defence.

The following year he was jailed for handling stolen gold from the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery near Heathrow airport. After his conviction he shouted to the jury “I hope you all die of cancer”.

A summary of the panel’s decision listed a series of risks associated with Noye’s release. These included “his readiness to carry and use weapons” and “not being able to resolve arguments reasonably at key moments”. It also noted that in the past Noye “held unhelpful attitudes concerning the use of violence and did not always control extreme emotions well”.

But the panel, which was presented with a 439-page dossier on Noye’s behaviour, was told he “demonstrated maturity about his situation, as well as greater insight into his past behaviour”.

It heard that that Noye “demonstrated an ability to deal appropriately with potentially violent situations in prison and was clearly well-motivated to avoid further offending in the community.”

Professional witnesses interviewed by the panel all said Noye had “addressed his risk factors appropriately and had reduced his risk to the public.”