A MURDERER should never have been set free to kill again, according to the family of his first victim.

Andrew McVicar, 35, was handed a 12-year life sentence for killing Tim Smith almost two decades after he murdered 20-year-old Tony Harrington with a broken bottle.

Now Tony’s family have shared their horror at learning McVicar had killed again and told the Echo he should never have been allowed back on the streets.

Tony’s mother, Julie Sinfield, said: “When I saw his face on television during the manhunt, it made me feel sick to my stomach.

“When he killed Tony he was a teenager and now he was a grown adult and had done it again - I just felt sick that he had taken another life.”

McVicar was 15 when he killed Tony by stabbing him in the neck with a broken bottle in a row after he walked past him and his friends, in Dunstable.

McVicar kicked Tony as he lay bleeding on the ground, and hurled abuse at the family when he was jailed at Luton Crown Court in August 1999.

Mrs Sinfield added: “This has just proved how violent he is and he should never have been allowed out of prison.

“I feel for Mr Smith’s family and that he has put someone else through this horrific ordeal - there’s no justice in it.

“It’s devastating to think they are going through what we have been through and are still suffering from.”

McVicar has continuously plagued Tony’s family since his conviction.

In 2007, he went on the run from Ford Open Prison, in Sussex, after getting drunk with other prisoners.

The killer jumped a perimeter fence and made off, only to get caught after getting stuck waist deep in mud next to the River Arun.

In March 2017, Essex Police shared McVicar’s picture nationwide in a bid to track him down after he fled the area in the wake of Tim Smith’s death.

Mrs Sinfield added: “This whole ordeal had just brought it all up again.

“To this day, it still hurts and feels like it was only yesterday.

“McVicar has never shown any remorse for killing Tony. If he had been kept in prison, this might not have happened.

“Life should mean life and the fact he could be back on the streets in six years is sickening. There’s no justice in that.

“He was 15 when he killed Tony and 35 now. In six years he will be young enough to do it again.”

McVicar was jailed for life, again, for the manslaughter of 57-year-old Tim Smith in Hullbridge. McVicar, formerly of Dewsgreen, Basildon, and Colin Garrod, 51, of Crowborough Road, Southend were sentenced to life with 12 years in prison and a minimum of six years to be served before being eligible for parole for manslaughter, affray and possession of an imitation firearm. Mr Smith was killed on March 20 last year.