April 2014
‘There’s no manners anymore’: Rapist and murderer freed after 46 years says modern Britain lacks community spirit
One of the nation’s longest serving prisoners, who spent almost half a century locked up for murder and rape, has been released.
Alan Houchin, 75, was enjoying his first days of freedom this week after serving 47 years, but there was fury last night that he had been let out.
It came amid claims the pensioner could still pose a danger to the public because of his violent track record.
Houchin narrowly avoided the death sentence in 1965 for strangling 16-year-old waitress Shona “Toni” Berry.
Just three years after being released on licence in 1976 he went on to rape and beat a 19-year-old female shop assistant and was locked up for a further nine years. But his offending continued even when he was an inmate.
In 1993 he slipped his guards while he was on a hospital visit and went on the run, with the police describing him as “dangerous”. He was eventually arrested again in the company of a 17-year-old girl and returned to jail
But after emerging from one of the longest prison stretches in British history, he says the country has changed for the worse since he was first locked up.
‘The biggest change I’ve found since I’ve been in jail is in people. Everyone is me, me, me.
‘There are no manners anymore. People are so rude, they bang into and push past you. The sense of community has gone.’
The killer, who admits the murder but has always denied the rape, told the paper he opened to door for a woman at the supermarket after his release, but she was offended and said she could do it for herself.
He claimed today’s Britain is all about ‘instant gratification’ and people have lost respect for each other.
Asked whether he felt lost in the modern world, he insisted he had kept up with developments on the outside and was fine.
Two years ago Houchin mounted a failed £50,000 compensation bid against probation bosses who refused to let him stay in an open jail as he was considered “high risk”. He was eventually moved after a decision by the parole board
Houchin has spent 46 of the last 49 years behind bars and was released last month from Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire. He is now planning to get married to his former partner Mary Griggs, 54.
The couple are now living in a council house in Swanley, Kent, but local residents have said they do not want him in the area.
Neighbours say Houchin has been a regular visitor to the house over the last couple of years as he was allowed out of prison on day release.
One said: ‘He’s always out there tinkering with his car. Mary told me he used to be in prison and she used to go and visit him and he would come and see her on day release too.
‘Of course I’ve heard rumours about what he did. I’ve heard he killed a young girl and raped another girl.
‘I’ve never asked him about it though – you just wouldn’t. Mary keeps to herself, most of the time, which is something we all do around here.
‘If he is a convicted murderer and rapist I definitely don’t want him living round here.’
Houchin’s victim Shona Berry was found dead in a park in the seaside resort of Margate in August 1965 after staying in the town with friends.
Houchin narrowly avoided a death sentence for the murder, because he was sentenced just seven days after capital punishment was abolished.
Following his release from his first prison stretch on licence, his life sentence was reimposed in 1979 for the rape.
His sentence was increased after he went on the run in 1993, when he escaped from guards while visiting his sickly father in a south London hospice.
Houchin convinced officers to leave him alone and remove his handcuffs so he could have one last ‘intimate moment’ with his father, before disappearing.
During his two weeks at large police warned Houchin was ‘charming but dangerous’ and ‘should not be approached’.
On his recapture he was sent to Belmarsh Prison, where he was beaten by three prisoners with a battery in a sock after they discovered he was a sex offender.
In April 2006, he was transferred to open conditions at HMP North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire after the risk he posed to the public was assessed as ‘medium’.
In 2010 he won a controversial High Court battle to be switched to a more comfortable prison with less security.
But a senior officer later decided he remained ‘high risk’ and he was moved back to a more secure jail.
Houchin then sought damages from Lincolnshire probation service, claiming he became ‘stressed and anxious’ after being taken back into stricter conditions.
He claimed his liberty was restricted, he was forced to share a cell with a smoker and lost his appetite.
He spent the last part of his marathon stretch at Leyhill open prison in Gloucestershire and was finally released on licence in March.
Victim’s charity Support After Murder and Manslaughter have expressed concerns that he may still be dangerous because of his history of crime.
Chief Executive Rose Dixon said: ‘I cannot believe they are letting this guy out with the history of violence he has.
‘I understand prison staff had concerns about him in the past and I cannot understand why he has been released.’
Among Britain’s longest-serving prisoners are Moors murderer Ian Brady, 76, who is still serving the three life sentences he was given in 1966, and Harry Roberts, 77, who was also locked up in 1966 for the murder of three policemen in London.
He was convicted at Kent Assizes in Maidstone in 1965 for the Shona’s murder and narrowly avoided the death penalty, which was suspended that year.
The court heard Houchin, then 27, met Shona at a bowling alley and suggested that she go back with him to a nearby guest house. He told the jury Shona refused to go to bed with him but suggested going to a nearby park.
Houchin admitted slapping and shaking her when she resisted him and claimed blood started coming from her mouth. He denied killing her and said he panicked and dragged her from the scene before returning home. The court heard her body was found the next day with her clothes strewn nearby.
April 1993
Hunt for murderer delayed
POLICE failed to widen the hunt for a convicted murderer and rapist for around 36 hours after he escaped because of a communications breakdown, it emerged yesterday. An internal inquiry has been launched
Alan Houchin, 54, serving life for murder, rape and attempted murder, fled on Wednesday while visiting his father in a hospice in Penge, south-east London, under prison service escort. Local police searched the immediate area but the search was not widened for more than a day.
Houchin, who was serving his sentence at Maidstone Prison, Kent, was jailed for life in 1965 for strangling a 16-year-old waitress in Margate, Kent. He was released on licence after serving 11 years but jailed again three years later after beating and raping a 19-year-old shop assistant in Folkestone.
Police said Houchin was dangerous and should not be approached. He is white, 6ft 1in, with blue eyes and grey hair and tattoos on both arms.
It is thought that what Scotland Yard called a ‘breakdown in systems of circulation’ resulted from details of the escape not being entered on the Metropolitan Police computer. This would have ensured that further action was taken immediately.
The Home Office said prison officers escorting him on the hospice visit had allowed him to remove his handcuffs so he could share an ‘intimate moment’ with his father.
