This man helped kill our brother now he’s moving in next door

Fresh blow for sisters ‘forever scarred’ by a brutal murder.

Devastated relatives of a man murdered in a hammer attack have slammed the justice system after a key culprit was released early to live on their doorstep.

Christopher Hollinsworth was caged alongside his killer mum Sharon and sister Natalie for plotting to murder his father, Andrew Oates.

But The Sunday Post can reveal the 21-year-old has been released after serving just two years of a four-year sentence and has been housed only yards from his dad’s sisters.

Prior to his release the women pleaded for Hollinsworth NOT to be dumped on their doorstep as they’re still traumatised by Andrew’s brutal murder.

He was battered over 20 times with a hammer by Sharon, 46, and his bloodied body wrapped in a tarpaulin and duvet bound with cable ties.

Now his sisters Trina Stewart, 63, and Sheena Googe, 61, of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, have revealed they have become prisoners in their own home afraid to go out in case they bump into Hollinsworth.

He was pictured by The Sunday Post on Friday lurking near their home, the outline of his electronic tag visible through his black socks.

Trina sobbed: “We stupidly believed the justice system would show us compassion. We begged as a family not to have him come back here but they didn’t listen.”

The early release of Hollinsworth is the latest slap in the face for tragic Andrew’s family.

They were also appalled when a legal loophole meant the son, as next of kin, would not release his dad’s body to them to be buried.

They had to wage a 15-month fight, costing £10,000, to have it released. Then they were outraged at the leniency of the sentences.

Now Trina has been forced back on to antidepressants after discovering Hollinsworth is living yards away with his maternal grandparents.

She claims he would regularly goad her when he was on remand awaiting trial and is worried he will do likewise now he is out.

Underlining the effect the murder has had on her life, she said: “It is a life sentence. We were put on a path we have to walk for the rest of our life and it’s not a path of our choosing.

“You come to terms with the bereavement. I can speak about Andrew now and visit the cemetery but the trauma, no. I still can’t walk the aisles of B&Q because I can’t look at hammers.”

The anguished family wrote to the Victim Notification Scheme on March 10 this year, knowing the letter would be passed on to the Parole Board and Scottish Prison Service prior to Hollinsworth being released.

The letter said: “We as a family only request, even beg, that he is not allowed to be released into the town of Peterhead. Allowing this person back to the small community would do untold damage to our family.

“My family has been forever scarred by this. We have been through enough heartache. Please allow us the victims to continue healing without the wound being reopened.”

The letter went unheeded and, when the sisters telephoned asking if it was true he’d been allowed back regardless, they were told any information about Hollinsworth could not be divulged in case “it breached his human rights”.

With sister Natalie now on a training for freedom programme, it’s likely she too will be released shortly.

Trina said the stress is proving to be unbearable for her elderly parents, George, 84 and Flora, 83. Andrew was murdered on his dad’s 80th birthday.

Trina, who works as a nurse, said: “My mum and dad don’t go in to the town. My dad, who can barely walk some days, will drive up to Buckie rather than go there.

“After the court case they shut themselves off. It has aged them and affected them mentally and physically.”

On Friday, Christopher Hollinsworth travelled into Peterhead town centre by bus, passing the cemetery where his father was finally buried. He wore cropped gym trousers with long socks to conceal his electronic tag.

Other families of murder victims would like to see such jaunts carried out in close proximity to victims’ families curtailed.

Indeed The Sunday Post has previously highlighted the parents of 16-year-olds Paul Cannon and Diane Watson who were stabbed in separate incidents in the 1990s.

They are calling for 100-mile exclusion zones to be imposed on prisoners released on licence, an idea backed by Sheena Googe, who has set up a help group for other victims of traumatic death in the area.

She added: “It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d said he’d get out and could live in another town. It’s had an impact on so many parts of our life.”

Hollinsworth who moved in with his grandparents 12 days ago played a crucial role in the crime.

Him, mum Sharon and sister Natalie planned to dump Mr Oates’ trussed body in a shallow grave dug in their back garden. However the trio bottled that plan and instead calmly walked into a police station, where a confession was made.

Sharon was jailed for life with a minimum of 11 years after she admitted murder, conspiracy to murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Natalie and Christopher were jailed for five years and four years, two months respectively for conspiring to kill Andrew.

The terrible nature of the October 2010 crime was underlined by chilling text messages which made up a central plank of the prosecution case when the case came to court.

Tory justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said: “This is another example of the concerns of the families of the victim being placed second to the rights of the criminal.

“While it is important criminals are re-housed, this must be done sensibly and the lack of sensitivity in this case is just jaw-dropping.”

Last night campaign group Victim Support Scotland said its sympathy was with the family.

Spokesman David Sinclair said: “In such cases we hope the views of victims of crime are taken into account at all stages of the process.

“Whether that be through the Victim Notification Scheme or through the Parole Board. This is still part of the judicial process and the decisions are made by groups who are in possession of all the facts.

“But certainly in this case our sympathies would be with the victims.”

Last September First Minister Alex Salmond pledged to tackle the scandal of prisoners getting automatic early release. And this week Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill introduced the bill at Holyrood.

But his plan to end the controversial scheme will only apply to the most serious violent and sexual offenders. That means the vast majority of jailed offenders will continue to leave prison early.

Trina added last night: “Frankly, we just can’t believe it. I used to read about things like this in the newspaper and turn the page. Until you’ve lived it, you don’t know what it’s like.”