A WOMAN kidnapped by a killer who planned to rape and murder her and was given THREE life sentences could soon be free.
Debbie Vangerko was just 17 when drug addict Nicholas Burton kidnapped her and held her at knifepoint for 11 hours in 1997.
Debbie Vangerko was kidnapped and held at gunpoint for 11 hours by her attacker[/caption]
Nicholar Burton, now 51, is being prepared for release despite being handed three life sentences[/caption]
Hours earlier, the deranged addict had stabbed Rachel McGrath – the 27-year-old daughter of a district judge – to death in a random attack in a pub car park in Cheshire.
Debbie – who had no connections to Burton – was taken while on a nearby street and survived thanks to a pit stop at a petrol station in Caernarfon, North Wales, where she managed to flee.
Burton would go on to admit he planned to rape and murder Debbie and a find a third victim.
Despite the horror of his crimes, Debbie was told by probation officials her maniacal kidnapper was being prepared for release.
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In her first interview since the horror ordeal, she criticised the Parole Board currently at the centre of a government review and said it was “not fit for purpose”, according to the Daily Mail.
She said it was time the rights of victims took precedence over those of criminals.
Burton was found guilty in April 1998 of Miss McGrath’s murder as well as the false imprisonment and threat to kill Debbie. He was handed three life sentences.
Justice Morland described him at the time as a “highly dangerous man who will endanger the lives of women indefinitely” and his crimes so heinous “no Home Secretary is ever likely to allow your release”.
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Debbie and Miss McGrath’s family later discovered Burton’s minimum 25-year jail term expired earlier this year following time served before his trial.
The 43-year-old survivor said she was “scared” about Burton’s release.
A tearful Debbie said: “I thought he was never going to come out.
“There is no deterrent. These monsters should not be allowed out. They are put away, but then let out in a few years.
“There’s no real justice. Leave him to rot and this country will be a safer place.”
