Philip Lawrence's killer could be free in weeks - and given a new home and identity

Learco Chindamo, 27, has formally applied to go free after nearly 12 years behind bars.

He has submitted papers to the Parole Board, which will consider his case in the next two months.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw, wary that Chindamo's early release would cause a huge political row, is expected to oppose it.

But although Mr Straw can make representations to the Parole Board panel, he will have no direct influence over its decision.

Mr Lawrence's widow, Frances, is also expected to outline her concerns to the three-strong panel, headed by an experienced murder trial judge. She feels it is too early for her husband's killer to go free.

The 60-year-old mother of four is entitled to submit a statement on how her family's life has been affected by the callous killing.

In one of its most sensitive cases for years, the panel will consider prison and probation staff reports before ruling on Chindamo's suitability for release.

It is understood that probation officers have already begun preparing for his freedom by putting together a 'release plan' to help him reintegrate into the community.

One possibility, yet to be confirmed, is that Italian-born Chindamo could be given a new identity, home and intensive security protection.

Officials are to consider whether, like Soham liar Maxine Carr and the killers of James Bulger, he should have the benefit of a sweeping court order to protect his privacy and prevent anyone revealing where he is.

The benefit of a new home fitted with state-of-the-art security – and subsidised by the taxpayer – is also likely to be extended to his Filipina mother Paquita and his brother Wolfgang.

A new identity would put Chindamo into an exclusive band of criminals and their associates who have been shifted out of the public's view to protect their own safety.

It would also provoke fresh public outrage over the treatment of the killer, who this year escaped the threat of deportation to his native Italy after a tribunal said that removing him from the country would breach his human right to a family life and break EU laws.

Mrs Lawrence told the Mail yesterday that she will write to the Parole Board urging it to delay Chindamo's release.

She said: "It is a very complex situation. My view is the same as it always has been."

While she accepts that Chindamo should one day be released, she feels that 12 years is too soon.

But she also believes her views will go unheeded during the parole procedure, and questions what her letter to the Board will achieve, saying: "I cannot be sure it is going to make any difference."

Earlier this year, she criticised the laws that mean her husband's killer cannot be deported.

She said: "Chindamo went beyond the law and the Human Rights Act, taking away the most fundamental right of all, my husband's right to life.

"But then he was allowed to pick and choose from it to help him continue his life the way he wants it."

Chindamo was 15 when he stabbed Mr Lawrence to death outside his school in West London in December 1995 as the brave head tried to protect one of his pupils.

Despite overwhelming evidence against him, Chindamo denied murder but was convicted at the Old Bailey in October 1996.

In August this year, his freedom hopes appeared to suffer a blow when it was revealed that Home Office officials had described him as a 'present and serious threat' to the public.

Based on assessments by probation staff and other experts, Chindamo was said to be still volatile and likely to re-offend.

Details of the continuing danger were contained in the judgment of the Asylum and Immigration gration Tribunal which ruled that he should be allowed to stay in Britain at the end of his prison sentence.

By next month he will have been behind bars for 12 years including time spent on remand – the minimum term recommended by the trial judge – and is therefore eligible to apply for parole.

Insiders say there is now no longer a "valid reason" to keep Chindamo in closed conditions and he will, if he wishes, be allowed to move to an open prison shortly.

Chindamo has already been allowed out on day release five times – three unsupervised.

A source close to the case said: "On paper, Chindamo appears to tick all the right boxes and is ready for release. By January, he will have served his tariff, behaved himself in jail, attended anger management courses and been out of jail on a number of unescorted visits without causing any trouble.

"Although there remains a risk he will reoffend, it might not be sufficiently high to block his release."