Maria Pearson (murderer)

Maria Pearson (born 12 March 1956), also known as the "UK's forgotten inmate" or the "forgotten prisoner", is a British convicted murderer who is notable for being the United Kingdom's longest-serving female prisoner. Having bigamously married a man in 1986 after two previous marriages, she had a violent relationship with him and separated after one month, only to become infuriated and jealous when the man met a new girlfriend. Aged 31, she decided to stalk the 23-year-old woman, abusing her and sending threatening letters to her mother. Subsequently, she stabbed the young woman 17 times in the street and killed her, twice stabbing her through the heart. In July 1987, she received a life sentence, with a minimum tariff of 12 years. As of 2023, she has been denied parole nine times. She has mostly refused to take part in rehabilitation programmes in prison, and has twice been sent back from open prisons due to repeated poor behaviour such as bullying and intimidation. She has refused to acknowledge her guilt and attempted to appeal her conviction on the grounds that, although she did kill the woman, it was "an act of self-defence and provocation". She has had many attempts at overturning her conviction, all of which – including her attempts to appeal to the independent miscarriage of justice watchdog the Criminal Cases Review Commission⁠ – have failed. Her most recent parole rejection occurred in February 2023. At this time, she was noted for having served only one year less than infamous female UK murderer Myra Hindley, who was never released from prison. She was released and then subsequently recalled in August of 2026 having breached the conditions of her licence.