The Parole Board has decided that Jamie John Curtis, 62, will be released from prison.

Curtis was serving a life sentence with a non-parole period of 30 years following his conviction for murder after he and his then 16-year-old brother abducted a young couple from Glenorchy, raping the woman and killing her partner..

The pair had earlier abducted a young girl who was delivering newspapers but she managed to escape from the boot of their car.

He was also sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for abduction, aggravated burglary, four counts of causing grievous bodily harm, nine counts of criminal code assault, three counts of indecent assault, six counts of rape, one count of escape and two counts of burglary.

Mr Barns, who is also chair of the Prisoners Legal Service said he supported the Parole Board’s decision.

“In my view the Parole Board is very risk averse,” Mr Barns said.

“If they have decided to release him it would have been after an extraordinarily thorough investigation.”

Mr Barns said Curtis had done his time.

“It is important to remember that our system of justice is not just about the victims,” he said.

“We have to ensure number one that the punishment is adequate and number two that the person has been rehabilitated.

“Thirty years is a life time.”

When he was sentenced the judge said his criminal conduct “beggars description”.

He said the conduct involved a “sustained course of brutal abduction, assault, sexual abuse and ultimately murder in the vain hope of escaping detection” which “lasted throughout a period of some twelve hours”.

The conduct was “unprovoked, brutal, prolonged, indiscriminate and callous”, the judge said.

“[i]n the scale of seriousness of criminal conduct culminating in murder, this case ranks amongst the worst one is likely to encounter”, he said.

When he was sentenced the judge said Curtis “represented a serious danger to the community especially when intoxicated which warranted protection of the public from him for the rest of his life.”

In its decision, the Parole Board said that in August 2016 Curtis began paid employment outside of the prison.

The board said it understood the concerns of the victims.

“Their views are important; there are, however, a number of other factors which must be considered when making this decision,” the board said.

“Taking all of those matters into consideration, the Board is of the view that the applicant meets the statutory criteria to be granted a parole and that his reintegration into the wider community will best be served by granting him a period of parole with appropriate conditions.”

The conditions include not being allowed to consume alcohol or illicit drugs, that he not enter licensed premises, that he undergo ongoing counselling with a psychologist, be subject to a curfew that does not interfere with his work and that he not associate with his co-offender.

Curtis is expected to be released from prison soon.