What did Oscar Pistorius do, who was Reeva Steenkamp and why is he being released?

Oscar Pistorius will be released at the start of next year after serving nearly 10 years in prison for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. At a hearing in South Africa on Friday, the double-amputee Olympic runner was granted parole. He will now be released from jail on January 5.

The shocking Pistorius case made headlines across the globe in 2013 after the Olympian shot his girlfriend multiple times through a toilet door in the middle of the night.

The athlete claimed he thought he was shooting at an intruder.

READ MORE: Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius to be released from prison

Read more court stories from the Manchester Evening News here.

Following a trial, he was sent to prison in late 2014. He launched numerous appeals over his conviction but was eventually sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison. In South Africa, serious offenders need to serve at least half of their sentence before they are eligible for parole.

Pistorius, now 37, was at the height of his fame and one of the world’s most admired athletes when he shot his girlfriend dead in 2013.

He had both of his feet amputated when he was still a baby due to a birth defect and went on to become a Paralympic champion. Nicknamed the Blade Runner, Pistorius later went on to compete against non-disabled runners and represented South Africa in the London 2012 Olympics - becoming the first amputee ever to run at the event.

Months later, in the early hours of Valentine's Day, February 14, Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria. In the middle of the night, Pistorius got out of bed and shot four times through a closed toilet cubicle door with a 9 mm pistol.

Prosecutors argued that Reeva had fled to the toilet cubicle during an argument