Double killer freed – family fury erupts

Convicted killer Andrew McVicar posed in a new photo on Facebook

A double killer is back on Britain’s streets — and the family of one victim has blasted his early release as “disgusting” and “disgraceful.”

Andrew McVicar, now 42, has been freed on parole just seven years into a 12-year sentence for killing a pensioner during a violent burglary.

The shock decision has reopened old wounds for relatives of his first victim, murdered when McVicar was just 15.

On Christmas Eve 1999, McVicar slashed 20-year-old Tony Harrington’s throat with a broken bottle in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Nearly two decades later, he killed again.

In March 2017, McVicar and accomplice Colin Garrod stormed a home in Hullbridge, Essex, wearing balaclavas and carrying an imitation gun.

They confronted Glenn Mattram, his family, and Timothy Smith, 57, and his wife as they returned from a pub.

Smith was shoved to the ground and suffered “catastrophic injuries” after hitting his head on a wall outside the house.

He died in hospital the next day.

The killers fled with a holdall of cash — and later splashed £3,000 on designer clothes.

During the trial at Basildon Crown Court, jurors heard McVicar drove to Scotland the following day for another crime spree in Livingston.

A manhunt followed.

Detectives warned the public not to approach the “dangerous individual,” describing him as a “huge brute of a man” with “honour” and “pride” tattooed on his forearms.

Armed police swooped on relatives’ homes on the Harthill housing estate in a joint operation between Scots and Essex forces.

He was arrested with £22,490 in cash.

McVicar was jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years.

Garrod, of Southend, received the same minimum term.

Accomplice Jamie Caborn was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Lodge condemned their actions, saying they had “callously denied Mr Smith’s wife to tend to her critically ill husband” during the robbery.

He described the crime as a grave example of an aggravated threat intended to cause terror or alarm.

McVicar has now been released by the independent Parole Board after serving seven years of that term.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed he walked free last month and remains on lifelong licence, meaning he can be recalled to prison if he breaches strict conditions.

But fury has erupted.

Julie Sinfield, mother of Tony Harrington, said she was “horrified” to learn of his release.

“I think it’s disgusting that he’s out. It’s disgraceful,” she said.

Another source close to Harrington said: “The whole thing stinks. He should never be released again after taking two lives.”

Adding to the anger, McVicar reportedly showed off his muscular physique on Facebook just days after walking free.

For grieving families, the pain has returned — and the fight for justice feels far from over.

Double killer back on streets as victim's family slams 'disgusting' jail release