http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=409536&in_page_id=1770Anger at early release for policewoman killer
Last updated at 22:23pm on 9th October 2006
A car thief who mowed down and killed a policewoman has been freed early from jail after serving just five years behind bars.
As he walked out of prison, unrepentant Thomas Whaley even let loose a volley of foul-mouthed abuse towards wardens and prison staff.
Whaley, now 24, was convicted of killing PC Alison Armitage in 2001 when he reversed over her while trying to escape in a stolen car.
A persistent petty crook from the age of 12, Whaley was caught and jailed for eight years after admitting manslaughter.
He would have been released on probation even earlier had he shown more remorse and behaved better in prison.
Last night the family of Alison Armitage said Whaley blasted the lenient sentence for the manslaughter of their daughter.
Her mother, Lillian, a nurse, said: "We just want to remember our daughter and forget about him. The only thing that we can say about his sentence is that it wasn't long enough."
"We knew he was coming out this month but we didn't know exactly when and we didn't want to know."
The family successfully appealed against Whaley's previous application for parole but this time the Home Office said it had no powers to stop his release.
In the seven years before his conviction, Whaley, from Oldham, had committed some 20 offences - including drink driving, burglary and theft.
By contrast, PC Armitage's teenage years were spent passing dance examinations, canoeing, gliding, getting the Duke of Edinburgh's silver award and joining the Territorial Army.
After university she joined Greater Manchester Police in 1996 and was soon selected for an elite undercover Operational Support Unit targeting the Chadderton area of Oldham.
The week before her death she had helped to foil an armed bank robbery, for which she received a posthumous commendation.
The night she died she and Detective Constable Gary Lamont, in plain clothes, were guarding a stolen car when Whaley returned to it.
DC Lamont banged on the window, shouting that he was a police officer but Whaley reversed the car hitting PC Armitage.
She vanished under the car and as Whaley drove forward the officer screamed that there was someone underneath.
But Whaley reversed the stolen car again over the prone officer and PC Armitage later died from multiple injuries.
Electrician Brian Hughes gave chase, giving police a running commentary on his mobile phone, and Whaley was arrested nearby.
The teenager, who claimed he did not know he had hit the police officer, was jailed for eight years in November 2001.
But a prison insider has revealed Whaley showed no remorse for killing the officer and even boasted about his crime while in Manchester Prison.
He said: "He was far from the exemplary prisoner. He served the most time he could have done - and that says it all about what type of person he is."
Whaley has been rated as having a "high risk" of reoffending and has been given a team of probation, social service and welfare workers to monitor him.
A former friend from the Abbeyhills estate in Oldham, where Whaley lived, said: "Tommy is chuffed to be out but he's a bit paranoid."
"He thinks he's going to get done over in some kind of revenge attack. He says he is finding it difficult to adjust after being in prison but being free is the main thing for him."
Under current legislation Whaley, who is presently living in a bail hostel, could be returned to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence if he commits an offence or breaks the terms of his licence.
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