Fifteen years ago the Burton Mail launched a campaign after the jail sentence of murderer David Bond was cut from 40 years to 25.
Bond had been jailed for brutally stabbing to death married entrepreneur Debbie Buxton in a random attack as she walked her dogs by the river in Marston-on-Dove, in 1993.
The murder rocked the area at the time, as did the news in 2003 that the killer's minimum tariff had been cut.
Twenty-five years in prison is a long time and there is no doubt that people will have changed after all that time. But this newspaper stands by its Justice for Debbie campaign today - 40 years behind bars was the correct sentence for Bond.
What he did was so abhorrent and disturbing that the prospect of freedom for Bond will always surely be a concern.
The attack on Debbie Buxton came after other incidents of violence - he had attacked women before and had only been released from prison 11 weeks before the murder took place.
He did not know Debbie and had not even set eyes on her before that fateful day. He merely snuffed out her life in a brutal and frenzied attack for his own horrific ends.
Debbie's husband Ron, a well-respected businessman and member of the Rotary Club, was tragically one of the first people on the scene when her battered body was found.
Statistics tell us that such random murders are thankfully rare, and that most victims are killed by someone they know.
This makes Bond's case all the more disturbing. When he was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years behind bars there was relief that he would no longer be a danger to the public, especially women.
At his trial, Mr Justice Rougier said he was imposing the 40-year tariff because Bond was perhaps the most dangerous man he had ever tried and that his greatest physical and emotional pleasure was in attacking women.
So, in 2003, when it was announced that his sentence had been cut to 25 years there was justifiable outrage.
Debbie's family, MPs and previous victims backed our campaign, which we took to the Houses of Parliament. In the end it was decided that the 25-year tariff should stand but that the Parole Board would consider Bond's case in due course.
That has now happened and for his bid for freedom to be turned down shows that there remain serious concerns over Bond.
However long he remains behind bars, we fear this will always be the case given he has committed such a terrible crime and displayed such hatred towards women - the 40 year-tariff should have at least stood.
