Before, being sheltered had had no meaning for him. He had been moved numerous times over his decades inside but had never been in a category D open prison before. Cat D prisons were designed to prepare felons for returning to society. No one was moved there unless the Parole Board was happy it was safe to do so. Wright was perfectly aware of the outcry about his impending release. He was originally sentenced, in 1989, to life with a tariff of twenty-eight years. After he had completed half his sentence he applied every year for parole, but was consistently refused. In 1991, after reading a psychiatrist’s report presented at a parole hearing, the Home Secretary increased his term to a whole life tariff. Then, having served more than the entire original sentence, he applied to the Parole Board again. With the application he offered to identify the burial places of two victims, if he could be released. He had always admitted killing three but had been convicted of murdering five. There was also suspicion that he was involved in two other unsolved killings in the south of the country, which matched a time when he was away from his native north-east. That made a total of seven.

The Home Office had made no promises, saying only that it would look leniently on his application if he co-operated prior to the decision. As a result, he had spent several enjoyable weeks, accompanied by police officers, on the North York Moors trying to locate the burial spots. He made a big show of not being sure, so that he had day after day out in the open, being fed pub lunches and cafe meals, and generally getting a bit of fresh air. He had after five weeks led officers to a small burial mound, now overgrown, near a stream, where he had placed the bodies of one of the two. He claimed not to recall where the other was because of the change in tree cover and bushes. In reality, he had a very clear picture in his mind, but pretending to be uncertain meant he retained his trump card. For weeks a senior probation manager had ferried messages backwards and forwards between Rollason and the Parole Board. The prisoner’s message was uncompromising. I’ve given you one burial place. I’ll give you a second only in exchange for a release date.