Janet Newton was just 23 when she was murdered by her husband-to-be’s ex, Maria Pearson. Now Britain’s longest-serving prisoner, Pearson has made a new bid for freedom, leaving Janet’s sister Lynn terrified
Growing up, Janet Newton and her sister Lynn were the closest of sisters. Sharing a bedroom together, they would spend hours chattering away into the night about boys and what they would name their future children.
Their fantasy grew closer to becoming a reality when 22-year-old Janet fell in love with Malcolm Pearson, a local welder who only lived a few doors away in her home town of Hartlepool. But Jane never got the chance to live out her happily ever after.
On October 19 1986, three days after Malcolm proposed on her 23rd birthday, her life was brutally cut short. The bride-to-be was stabbed to death by her fiance’s ex partner Maria Pearson. Pearson plunged a knife into Janet 17 times – leaving her body so mutilated that police thought she was a victim of a hit and run traffic collision.
Caged in 1987, Pearson, now 68, has become Britain’s longest-serving female prisoner, overtaking Myra Hindley. But she could soon be freed. The Mirror can exclusively reveal that Pearson is making her 10th bid for freedom and the parole board has granted her a hearing on Monday, June 2.
Pearson has now been behind bars for 38 years – two more years than the Moors murderer Myra Hindley, who died in 2002 while serving her life sentence in Highpoint Prison, near Haverhill.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, Janet’s sister Lynn is once again begging the parole board to keep her locked up for good. She says: “Every time she applies for parole I have had to write the victim impact letter on why she should not be released.
“When my sister died, I had nightmares for months afterwards – I’d wake up screaming. The nightmares and the sense of dread have begun again. All I can do is wait and pray the worst does not happen. “I lost my soulmate that day, and I can never forgive her killer – not just what she has put us through by taking Janet’s life but for the years since but how she’s shown no remorse for what she did. She’s pure evil.”
Pearson was found guilty of murder in 1987 and given a mandatory life sentence. She was ordered to serve a minimum of 12-years before being considered for parole. The killer, aged 31 when she was jailed, has served an extra 25-years past her minimum term and Lynn says, “She is not only Britain’s longest female prisoner but Britain’s most dangerous female prisoner as well.”
So dangerous that Lynn will only give her first name and will not be pictured – because she’s terrified for her and her family’s safety if Maria’s parole is successful.
For Lynn, the nightmares began again on October 16 last year – on what would have been Janet’s 59th birthday – when she received a letter from the parole board informing her that Pearson has made her latest bid for freedom Lynn says: “It felt like a cruel joke to receive it on Janet’s birthday, and then two days later deal with the anniversary of her murder.”
Pearson had previously been ‘married’ to Malcolm, but they split when he discovered she was a bigamist – having never divorced her previous husband Sam Travers. He then fell for Janet, and the murderous mother of three started stalking his new love and her family after learning about their relationship.
After months of harassment, including hate letters, the news of the engagement proved to be the “final straw.” “It was very strange to hear her talking ” recalls Lynn. But I never thought she would do anything. . Soon after, she started sending hate mail in the post telling Jane to leave Malcom. She would follow Janet and shout abuse at her and Malcolm.
“Janet always played it down. She didn’t want us to worry. We had a lot of concerns. but we all thought she’ll get bored, meet someone else and move on. I never in a million years thought this woman would end up doing what she did.“
Two days later after being presented with an engagement ring, Janet and Malcolm made plans to celebrate. Lynn says: “I remember it was a Saturday night – she was wearing her best red dress, when she set off on foot to meet Malcolm at his home. It was only about a five-minute walk, but she never arrived,” says Lynn.
When Malcolm went to look for her, he found her lying in a pool of blood. Pearson had plunged her blade with such ferocity it had penetrated 23-year-old Janet’s heart.
Lynn recalls: “I had gone to a friend’s house that evening when my brother and uncle turned up and said our Janet’s dead – she’d been in a hit and run. I was hysterical. Then later, when I got home and police officers, they said she’d been murdered. I knew as soon as they said that Maria was responsible.”
Malcolm was initially questioned and then released before Maria was arrested. In 1988, a year after being found guilty of murder, Pearson appealed on the grounds of diminished responsibility after suffering a miscarriage, which left her with post-natal depression. This was thrown out. Subsequent appeals have been unsuccessful, according to parole records, due to her “aggressive and controlling behaviour.”
Lynn, who has been diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety, recalls:” For a long time, after her death I had nightmares, I’d wake up screaming at night. Each time there is a new parole, I have to relieve her murder. ”
In October 2013, Janet’s mum, Carole passed away. On whether she believes in prisoner rehabilitation, Lynn says: “I do support it. If it works, it’s a good thing; people do deserve a chance if they have served their time – but she has not shown any remorse. My mum died knowing that the person who killed her child feels no contrition.
“It has been some comfort that she keeps being denied parole. But this time I’m worried sick she will finally succeed. You don’t appreciate how great it is to have a sister until you don’t have one any more. It makes me angry about the unfairness of it – what some families have to go through. My sister was the last person on earth anyone would want to harm.
“At the bank where she worked, the customers got to know her and loved her too. They all came to her funeral – she had such a massive turnout. There was one elderly man who always refused to be served by anyone other than Janet, so he’d always wait until she was free. He kept in touch with us afterwards, I know for my parents – knowing how much she meant to people was something that helped their grief.”
Lynn’s dad John is 89 now and she says: “I would want him to pass away knowing that she was full of remorse so he can have peace, but if she will never do that, the next best thing is for my dad to go knowing she will never be set free for how she took away Janet’s life and destroyed us all.” For Lynn, who was just a teenager at the time, the impact of her sister’s murder has shaped the rest of her life.
“If somebody is ever volatile or aggressive to me, I think they are going to murder, and if someone is arguing in the street, I think someone’s going to get killed,” she explains. “Once you know murder can happen so close to home, you don’t put anything past anybody. You start to become scared of your own shadow. It’s made me a very nervous, anxious person”.
The grandmother of three appears in silhouette to hide her identity, while recalling the events that robbed her of her sister and to convey why she should never be set free in Sky Crime’s Britain’s Most Evil Killers. At this time, stalking was not a crime – it would take another decade after Maria’s imprisonment for it to be recognised under the Protection from Harassment 1997 Act.
In 2006, her Parole Board recommendation to be moved to an open prison and prepared for release was rejected. It followed bullying and intimidation allegations two years earlier at an open prison. Pearson accused then Home Secretary, John Reid, of a “politically motivated” rejection but she was blasted for her “unresponsiveness to treatment and unwillingness to conform”.
In her last review in 2023, it was ruled that Pearson was not fit for release due to the nature of the murder, how she had behaved in custody and the evidence at the hearing. In Pearson’s latest parole bid, she is expected to address the panel via video from her closed jail.
Lynn adds: “I remember when her ninth parole hearing was reported in the news; I saw a video on TikTok when they said it was an injustice that she was still behind bars because she had only killed one person. She hasn’t killed just one person. She’s destroyed so many lives with what she did – which was premeditated evil. “
* Britain’s Most Evil Killers is available to watch on Sky Crime
