Don't set him free; Victim's family speak out in protest over cut to murderer's sentence.

Byline: By LINDA RICHARDS

TWO sisters tormented since their mother's murder, have a new nightmare to face.

Donna and Louise Fryer almost died in a fire started by John Kerton to cover his tracks after he strangled their mother Eileen Clarke when she rejected his advances

Kerton, 32, was jailed for life and a judge recommended he serve at least 18 years when convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in 1997.

Donna, now 17, and Louise, 16, have battled to come to terms with their mother's brutal death and their own narrow escape.

Now they are stunned to hear that Kerton has had three years knocked off his minimum sentence and could be released in three years.

Their dad Darren Fryer, 38, from Leam Lane, Gateshead, who has brought the girls up since the tragedy, said: "They have had many nightmares about what happened, they are terrified he is getting out so soon.

"They don't talk about it much, they tend to bottle it up. Only they know what they saw that night. But they are absolutely terrified that they will bump into him in the street."

Last week, after a review at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, High Court judge Mr Justice Mackay ruled Kerton should serve a minimum of 15 years.

Taking into account almost 10 months he spent behind bars awaiting sentence, the decision means Kerton, then of St Cuthbert's Drive, Felling, Gateshead, can apply for release in spring 2011.

Mr Fryer, who had been split up from Miss Clarke for about a year when the murder happened, is furious about the court's decision.

"I's disgraceful," he added. "It is something the girls are never ever going to get over. How can a court do something like this?"

The girls, who were aged five and six, and their uncle David Clarke were asleep in Miss Clarke's home in St Edmund's Drive, Felling, when Kerton murdered her in her living room.

Realising what he had done, Kerton lit a fire in the room and at the foot of the stairs, before fleeing and leaving the brother and two daughters sleeping in the burning house. The two girls were found on the floor an adjoining room and rescued. Mr Clarke escaped from an upstairs window.

Mr Fryer, a glass cutter, who works for Tyne-side Safety Glass on Gateshead's Team Valley, continued: "They have bad dreams all the time about what happened to their mother. It never goes away. "

CAPTION(S):

VICTIM: Eileen Clarke with Donna and Louise, plus older daughter Dawn; FOUND GUILTY: John Kerton was jailed for life but may now be released in three years