The hulking killer of a public schoolgirl who was lured to her death after being ejected from a nightclub had a parole hearing on Thursday after being recalled to prison for breaking his licence conditions, can reveal.
Unemployed labourer Matthew Howick, 30, was sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 killing of Ashleigh Robinson, 17, who was made to stand outside a nightclub in Guildford by doormen because she was drunk.
Despite repeated requests to be let back into Cinderella’s nightclub she was still on the street when, by ‘a cruel twist of fate’, Howick passed by.
The 6ft 4in, 18st labourer lured her back to his town centre flat after offering to walk her to a takeaway. Once there he beat her violently, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her with the cord of a bathroom blind and a metal shower hose.
Her naked body was found in an alleyway between at 8.15am on the 13th April 1999. Howick, who was charged within 24 hours and confessed to the crime despite claiming to have little memory of the attack.
can reveal that Howick, now 55, was directed for release in 2020 and then recalled at a later date. It is not known what licence conditions he breached. This was his first hearing since being recalled.
The Parole Board will now make a decision within the next 14-days and if it recommends Howick is released again, he will be back on the streets in weeks. The panel could also recommend a move to an open prison or reject the application.
A Parole Board spokesperson said:”An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Matthew Howick and is scheduled to take place in August 2024.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
‘A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
‘Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
‘Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.
‘The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.
‘Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’
The horrific crime caused a national outcry as Ashleigh had been excluded from the club for sitting on a ledge. The court was told that a doorman did not like her doing this and had then decided she was unsteady on her feet.
A coach had been organised to take a group of 46 teenagers to the party and bring them home again. Ashleigh had been due to stay with the parents of a friend.
Ashleigh, who was a pupil at £15,000-a-year independent Millfield school, in Somerset, was barred despite doing nothing wrong. Inexplicitly, her friends were not notified of her predicament.
In January 2000, the Old Bailey was told that closed cicuit television cameras recorded Ashleigh standing outside the club without her jacket and handbag at 11.15pm, and that she appeared to have made repeated requests to be allowed back in.
A doorman went out and stayed with her for a while but her exclusion coincided with the arrival of Howick, said prosecutor Mark Dennis.
‘What followed demonstrates some degree of confidence on his part, quick thinking and determination,’ Mr Dennis told the court.
The teenager and Howick engaged in conversation, with the doorman excluded, and Howick received confirmation she was not allowed back in because of her state. A CCTV camera recorded her being led up the street with Howick holding her hand.
One passer-by described having seen someone ‘marching’ Ashleigh away. A motorist who had the impression they were arguing drove around the block to see what was happening, but the pair had disappeared.
Mr Dennis said that Ashleigh had been missed by her friends, but it was not until later that they realised she had not been in another part of the club. They reported her missing to police, and viewed CCTV footage taken around the time the club closed. Crucially, they did not see film of the earlier incident.
The following day Howick, who spent the morning attempting to clean his flat, saw police activity outside and went to visit his mother. When he returned officers were waiting for him.
Howick initially told detectives Ashleigh had left him in the street, but then admitted taking her to his flat ‘for coffee’ and said a violent argument took place. She had said all men were after the same thing. He claimed she stated: ‘I am not that kind of person – what kind of girl do you think I am?’
Sentencing Howick, Judge Geoffrey Grigson said:’You snuffed out a bright young life in a terrible way.’
He added: ‘Plainly Ashleigh Robinson was drunk, but however drunk she may have been, nothing she did or could have done justified your response.’
Nigel Sweeney, defending, said Howick was dyslexic, of lower-than-average intelligence and could remember little of what happened on the evening of the murder.
Ashleigh, a popular and sensible girl, was studying for her A-levels at Millfield and was hoping to go to university.
Ashleigh’s father, engineer Terry Robinson, from Axbridge, Somerset, said in a statement after the case:’Ashleigh was an intelligent and caring person who will be sorely missed by all who knew her.
‘She had a clear view of what she wanted to do with her life.’