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One of the UK’s most notorious serial killers has been offered a COVID-19 hit in front of millions of Britain’s elderly and vulnerable – a move condemned as a ‘national scandal’, according to one report.
Levi Bellfield – who murdered three people, including 13-year-old Milly Dowler – received a letter offering him a vaccine in the coming weeks even as the program has only just rolled out to those over 70, said The Sun.
David Spencer of the Center for Crime Prevention called it a “national scandal”.
“The notion of criminals taking priority over law-abiding citizens speaks volumes about the way our criminal justice system is run right now,” he told The Sun.
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett said it flies in the face of the belief “that prisoners, let alone a child murderer, should be given the opportunity to receive an early dose of the vaccine. “.
“I hope the Secretary of Justice will step in immediately and find out why rare doses of vaccine are being deployed in this way – and who it was.”
Bellfield, 52, is serving two life sentences, which means he must spend the rest of his life behind bars with the possibility of parole.
Most regular Britons remain strictly housebound due to the raging pandemic, with some nursing home residents among the millions of vulnerable people still awaiting their vaccines.
The killer received the offer in a letter sent to him at Frankland High Security Prison, Co Durham, where he reportedly moaned not to get it sooner because the pandemic “can spread like a trail. powder, “putting detainees” at risk, “The Sun said.
It was unclear which other inmates received the same offer at the prison, which is home to another notorious child murderer, Ian Huntley, as well as the terrorist who beheaded Private Lee Rigby on the street, the British newspaper said. .
The former cop who grabbed Bellfield – and whose memoir is the basis of the ‘Manhunt’ TV show – called the offer at first sight “appalling.”
“Prison staff, police officers, teachers, store workers and delivery drivers – the people who keep us going – should be given priority,” former chief inspector Colin Sutton told the British newspaper.
After the outrage, a source from the Department of Justice insisted to The Sun that “there is no vaccine priority for prisoners, and neither will there be.”
“No minister has seen this letter or thinks criminals should have better access to vaccines than the law-abiding majority,” the source said.
A ministry spokesperson also insisted, “To suggest that prisoners are treated differently from the general public is utter nonsense.”
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