A DOUBLE killer has been sent back to prison after his licence to be out of jail has been revoked.

Darren Pilkington killed his girlfriend Carly Fairhurst, from Hindley, in 2006 after pushing her down a flight of stairs

He was convicted of manslaughter after leaving her to suffer all night with her injuries which she never recovered from.

Pilkington was given an indeterminate sentence and served 10 years in jail before he was released on parole in November 2016 with a number of conditions which he breached last year and was put back behind bars.

After an appeal, a panel from the Parole Board held a hearing in August in which it was decided that Pilkington was allowed to leave prison with a raft of conditions.

But the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has now confirmed he was recalled yesterday, Thursday.

Carly's mum Sheila, 62, said: "Trevor (Carly's dad) and I only found out about it last night.

"It is the best news that we could have. I feel ecstatic.

"We do not know what he has done (to have his licence revoked) but we have been told that no-one has been harmed by him.

"We are just so glad he has been locked up again and off the streets."

Pilkington's return to jail comes a week after a programme about Carly's death was documented in an episode of Judge Rinder's Crime Stories.

It covered how Carly - at the age of 15 - became a pen pal of Pilkington, who was in jail after killing his friend Paul Akister in 2000.

The programme mentioned how their relationship developed when he was released from prison and how Carly covered up incidents of being repeatedly assaulted by Pilkington from her parents.

Following its airing on ITV1, Sheila and Trevor received messages on social media from people across the world who told of their own experiences of domestic abuse.

In relation to Pilkington's return to jail, an MoJ spokesman said: “Darren Pilkington was recalled to prison on January 17 after his licence was revoked.

“Public protection is our priority and recall is used to ensure that offenders on licence who present a high risk to the public are returned to prison as quickly as possible.”