'Ryan would be almost 30 now. Don't set that monster free'

Chloe Pickup remembers with a smile - and a huge sense of sadness - the warm hugs she loved to get from her older brother.

She would visit her grandparents on weekends and holidays and Ryan would always be there, waiting with excitement behind the windows for her to arrive. They would play in a ball pit together and with Ryan's blow-up toy alien.

But one weekend, when Chloe paid her usual visit to Gorton, he wasn't there. It was the same the following weekend.

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Chloe - who was just five years old when her brother Ryan Mason was murdered aged seven 22 years ago - admits she was too young to understand what had happened at the time, but has always cherished the memories they made together.

Now, Chloe says the family are dreading the time his killer's release from prison will be considered, saying they fear the 'ball is rolling' on his parole process. She's spoken out to demand 'child killing monster' Ronald Mariner is kept behind bars.

Evil Mariner - who had a history of violence against youngsters - was jailed for life in October 2002 for schoolboy Ryan's sadistic murder.

Aged 23 at the time, he stabbed Ryan five times before choking him and battering him with a hammer. He then wrapped Ryan's body up in bin bags and, using a wheelie bin, left him in a ditch on a golf course. The youngster was described by his family as shy and cheerful - a boy who told his friends in the school playground not to harm bugs because they were God's creatures.

Mariner denied the murder charge he faced, blaming Ryan's mum in court, but a jury at Manchester Crown Court took just 90 minutes to convict him, and he was later ordered to serve 25 years behind bars before he can