THE parents of two friends killed by a drink driver are furious that he is being taken on trips from prison after serving only two years of his sentence.

Allan Jackson was jailed for eight years in December 2000 for killing Susan Briggs and Angela Ovington. But he is already allowed out on day release to Leeds after being moved to an open prison.

Last night, parents Pauline and Dennis Briggs and Ray and Beatrice Ovington expressed their outrage.

Mrs Briggs, of Durham, said: "As far as I am concerned, my daughter has been murdered. For Jackson to be out on day release so quickly is not justice.

"Allan Jackson is only one prisoner. I find the whole system abnormal that someone could be jailed for eight years and then allowed out so soon."

Beatrice Ovington, of Birtley, Gateshead, said: "He should stay locked up until the end of his sentence."

Jackson was trying to escape from police when he knocked down a group of friends walking home from a pub in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, after a night out.

He lost control of his car on a bend and killed Angela Ovington, 28, Victoria Fisher, 27, and Susan Briggs, 30, in August 2000.

A fourth friend, Louise Tinkler, managed to scramble on to a wall to avoid Jackson's BMW.

Jackson admitted causing the three deaths by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years.

He had two previous convictions for drink driving in 1985 and 1988.

Durham MP Gerry Steinberg said: "These innocent young women were killed and the guilty party is out on the streets in less than four years."