A predator who raped a mother just one day after being released from prison for other sex offences has been given the green light to move to an open prison.

It means twisted Stephen Gale, who attacked the woman in a Morrisons car park in Tunbridge Wells back in 2007, could be eligible for day release.

Then 33, Gale followed his victim from the nearby railway station before pouncing on the her at the Vale Road site, which has since closed, and held a knife to her throat.

He was jailed indefinitely for the attack, but now faces the possibility of being back on the streets.

Just hours before the incident, Gale, who has been in and out of prison for sexual offences, had signed on to the sex offenders’ register at Tonbridge police station.

Back at his sentencing in May 2007, Judge Andrew Patience QC said it was “hard to foresee a time” when Gale would be considered safe to be released.

Mr Gale's minimum term expired in February 2013 and he has so far spent an additional 10-years in jail.

In his last parole hearing in 2021, the Parole Board had recommended Mr Gale be sent to a Category D open prison to prepare him for an eventual return to freedom.

However, the Justice Secretary had rejected the recommendation and had ordered Gale to stay locked up in a closed prison.

Following a hearing in April, Gale, now 49, has again been recommended for transfer to an open jail in his sixth parole hearing and the Justice Secretary failed to step in within a 28 day period.

A spokesman for the Parole Board said: “The Parole Board refused the release of Stephen Gale but recommended a move to an open conditions prison following an oral hearing in April 2023.

“This was a recommendation only and the Secretary of State for Justice considers the advice before making the final decision on whether a prisoner is suitable for open conditions.

“We will only make a recommendation for open conditions if a Parole Board panel is satisfied that the risk to the public has reduced sufficiently to be manageable in an open prison and if a transfer to open prison is considered to be essential to inform future decisions about release.”

Gale will be eligible for his seventh parole hearing in 2025.