David Blagdon, the man who has spent 21 years behind bars for setting fire to a pair of church curtains, should be a free man in a year's time, writes Emma Henry.

A parole board, headed by High Court judge Mr Justice Tucker, has decided that the 48-year-old, of Kingston Lisle, near Wantage, should be moved to an open prison, Sudbury Prison in Suffolk, and spend 12 months there before his sentence is reviewed again.

The news has been hailed as a partial success by his solicitors, as it means he will be able to take part in social rehabilitation programmes including living in a hostel and unsupervised town visits, to prepare him for life in the outside world. His solicitor, Kevin O'Gorman, said: "We were hoping for immediate release, but we were not surprised we didn't get it.

"But we are concerned that the 12-month timetable only starts when he moves to a fully open prison.

"He shouldn't have been moved to Lindholme Prison in the first place last July, as it isn't a full open prison. That has effectively wasted ten months.

"We don't know when he will be moved to Sudbury, but we would hope the Home Office would expedite it."

He said: "I haven't spoken to David, a prison officer was going to talk to him, but I think he realises it makes sense to have a programme in place for his release. He said Blagdon might even be able to get a job outside jail when he moves to the open prison.

He added that if things go well at Sudbury, he will try to get a parole board hearing before 12 months is up.

David's fiance Melanie Lancashire, of Alfreton, Derbyshire, said she was disappointed with the decision, as the pair had been hoping he would be moved to a bail hostel.

Miss Lancashire, 35, said: "David will be disppointed he's not coming straight out or going to a bail hostel.

"We were both hoping he'd be going to a bail hostel in Derbyshire."

A petition calling for Blagdon's release and signed by 2,000 Oxford Mail readers was handed to Home Secretary Jack Straw at his Minster Lovell home ahead of Tuesday's parole board hearing at Lindholme Prison in Doncaster.

Mr O'Gorman said: "The support of the Oxford Mail has been tremendous and David is very pleased. He thanks you very much for all your support."

**For more on Blagdon, see George Frew in The Reading Room (link in left panel)