Why release this cult killer now, asks JENNIFER SELWAY

Deputies escort Charles Manson on guilty verdict If you are old enough to remember the Manson murders of August 1969 you’ll remember how shocking they were, seeming to draw a bloody line under the innocent hippie era. The best-known victim was Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski who was eight months pregnant when she was butchered in her Hollywood home. The following night Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were also slaughtered at home. One of the LaBianca killers, a member of the Manson Family of compliant, drugged-up girls, was Leslie Van Houten – apparently aggrieved she had not been included in the previous night’s bloodbath. Nineteen at the time of the crime, she narrowly avoided a death sentence and at 73 has just been released. She is at a ‘transitional housing facility’ where over the coming months she will be taught how to navigate the digital world of mobile phones and laptops. Understandably, the families of Manson’s victims are distraught. Did their feelings count for nothing in the decision to release Van Houten? Debra Tate, who was 16 when her big sister Sharon was murdered, spoke for them when she said they do not believe in Van Houten’s remorse or rehabilitation, and are fearful for their lives. While, realistically, it is unlikely this Van Houten will ever be entirely unsupervised and in a position to kill again, you can only have intense sympathy for Debra Tate’s fears and her fury. What purpose is served by letting Van Houten out? Better to let her die in jail. Leslie Van Houten expresses remorse in killing the LaBianca couple Van Houten may well have persuaded the court (what with her master’s degree in humanities and good behaviour) that she is no longer a threat. But another factor in her release was California’s ageing prison population. Old lags, just like the rest of us, are living much longer. In the UK too, over-60s represent the fastest growing group in the prison population, with inmates in that age range increasing 82 per cent in the last decade. Many are repeat offenders who have been in and out of jail their entire lives, a significant number are sex offenders and a few (like Van Houten) are prisoners who have grown old in prison. Many people (me included) are appalled by Van Houten’s release. And more than half a century after the horrific events of August 1969, it’s extraordinary how the Manson murders – the consequence of a drug-fuelled youth cult – still haunt us now that the surviving killers are geriatrics. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Asronomical pay leads to crazy behaviour By last Wednesday, I reckon there were only seven people and a dog who didn’t know the identity of the BBC presenter who may or may not have paid thousands to receive smutty images from a teenager. That evening Huw Edwards’s wife came forward and made it official. The same day the BBC published its annual report along with the salaries of its highest paid stars, with Huw’s pay revealed as up to £440,000. Now you do have to pay good money to keep good people. But pay differentials didn’t used to be so huge. And as with footballers, rock stars and Hollywood actors, astronomical pay often leads to crazy behaviour. The temptation to believe your own publicity piles on terrible stress. Some people can cope, but some can’t. Trending Rikkie Kolle poses after being crowned Miss Netherlands A trans Miss Netherlands A transgender woman – 22-year-old Rickie Valerie Kolle – has been crowned Miss Netherlands and is now all set to compete for the Miss Universe title. And those fellow contestants behind her, smiling gamely? You know, actual biological women. I bet they’re really pleased… Idris couldn’t save Hijack ‘He’s just so ridiculously good-looking,’ said my husband when we saw the recent Luther film with Idris Elba. ‘Sssh’, I said. ‘Don’t speak when Idris is on’. I should add that my spouse doesn’t normally take the trouble to comment on other men’s looks but Idris Elba has that true star quality which transfixes everyone. So when we saw that he was in a thriller called Hijack on Apple TV, it seemed promising. What a disappointment. Even wondrous Idris cannot save this plane hijack drama which is set on a long haul flight from Dubai to London from being anything other than a very long haul indeed. It might help if he could occasionally get out of his first-class seat, but if he does then the hijackers shout at him. A sitting-down action drama is never going to work. The real problem is the format favoured by all the big streaming services – multi-episode dramas strung out beyond reason to several seasons. Hijack: The Movie could have been fairly exciting. Hijack: The (seven-part) Series is a yawn. Many-stringed bikinis I read in the Wall Street Journal that the many-stringed bikini is the must-have beachwear of the summer, and that the model Emily Ratajkowski has brought out her own range. It can, as the WSJ warns, make you look like ‘trussed pork tenderloin’, but worse still is the possibility of a severe wardrobe mal-function. I had a pair of those Greek sandals once with thongs you were supposed to criss-cross up your calves. Without fail, the strings slithered down to my feet within five minutes of leaving home. It wouldn’t do for the same thing to happen to one’s many-stringed bikini. Woman throws orange confetti at George Osborne and Thea Roger’s wedding Micro-plastics aren’t a good look for an eco-mob Just Stop Oil denied responsibility for the stunt at George Osborne’s wedding last weekend when a protester threw orange confetti over the happy couple. Just as well. Wedding guests are now usually asked not to throw confetti because it is (a) litter and (b) contains micro-plastics. Not a good look for an environmental activist. Wimbledon star names Is it a sign of old age when you find it hard to cope with the huge cast list of new young Wimbledon stars with unpronounceable names? It was so much easier throughout that long era when it was only Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, the Williams sisters, some girls who grunted a lot and a few also-rans.