Race to Stop Serial Killer Walking Free

Coral Watts is a self-confessed serial killer, who murdered at least 13 women and perhaps as many as 80. Yet he could become the first American mass murderer ever to be released from jail.

An astonishing series of legal blunders means Watts, nicknamed the Sunday Morning Slasher, has a release date for April 2006. The authorities are powerless to deny him his freedom unless they have have him convicted of a new crime. An attempt to do that began last week.

'If he gets out he will go back to doing what he does best - killing young women,' said Andy Kahan, a victims' rights specialist in Houston, Texas, where Watts, 51, found many of his victims.

Even Watts's own lawyer admits his client is a mass murdering psychopath. He was caught in 1982 after student Lori Lister, then 19, struggled free when he tied her up while he ran a bath to drown her. 'He is pure evil,' said Professor Gerald Treece of the South Texas College of Law.

However, bizarre circumstances surrounding Watts's arrest and conviction could lead to his release. When Watts was detained he was suspected of at least 26 other murders. But he had covered his tracks with precision, and little forensic evidence had been found on the bodies.

Watts agreed to co-operate with police in exchange for being charged not with murder but with aggravated burglary, which carried a sentence of 60 years without parole. Under pressure from families desperate to know what had happened to their missing daughters, prosecu tors struck the deal in the belief that he would die in jail as an old man. Watts then gave a detailed confession to 13 killings, and led police to three bodies.

However, an appeal court ruling in 1989 said a legal technicality meant his sentence would be reduced for good behaviour. Then Texas passed mandatory early release laws to cut the state's huge prison population. As Watts had never been convicted of a violent crime, his 60-year sentence had 34 years automatically lopped off. Now he must be released, and there can be no appeal by the police or Justice Department. 'He just benefited from a unique set of circumstances in Texas law,' said Treece.

Many of his victims' families want to find a way of keeping Watts behind bars. He said himself in his original confession that he would kill again if released. 'He is a diabolical killer. He has warned what will happen with his own words,' Kahan said.

Watts told the police he chose victims in the streets because of what he saw as their 'evil eyes'. Then he stabbed, strangled or drowned them, often on Sunday mornings, earning him his grim nickname.

His confession was a catalogue of insane brutality. Watts, born into a poor family, developed a violent streak as a teenager. He drifted around the country, eventually ending up as a mechanic in Houston.

It is widely believed he committed as many as 80 murders across America. He told a group of four interrogators they did not have enough fingers and toes between them to count the number of women he had killed.

Keeping Watts off the streets now depends on a trial that began last week in Michigan. Publicity about his future release prompted police there to reopen old cases and see if Watts, who spent time in the city in the late Seventies, could be linked to any unsolved murders. If they can convict him then Watts could receive a new life sentence.

A breakthrough came when Joseph Foy, who lives in Detroit, came forward to say he recognised Watts as a man he saw stab and kill Helen Dutcher, 36, in December, 1979, in the street outside his house. Houston officials, including Kahan, last week travelled to Detroit for the start of the trial.

It has led to some surreal scenes.

While Watt's lawyer Ronald Kaplovitz has prevented the jury being told about Watts's planned release, he was unable to stop his confession from being allowed as evidence.

'No matter what I say or do, you're going to hate this guy,' Kaplovitz told the court last week, pointing to the figure of Watts, dressed entirely in black.

The case has already produced some moments of unbearable tension in the courtroom. Foy has described how he 'locked glances' with Watts as the accused walked away from the murder scene. 'Did you notice anything about his eyes?' prosecutor Donna Pendergast asked Foy. 'Evil,' the witness replied. 'Does he look the same as he did then?' Pendergast continued. 'His eyes do,' Foy said.

A verdict is expected this week. If the case fails and Watts is found not guilty, investigators are believed to be working on other cases to try to secure a fresh conviction. 'But the best result is simply to get him convicted here and now, and just keep him off the streets for good,' Kahan said.