A WOMAN serving a life sentence for the vicious torture and murder of a pensioner is due to give birth after becoming pregnant while on day release from a York open prison.

Lisa Healey will look after her child – which is due to arrive in the next few days – in the mother and baby unit at Askham Grange Prison, but the news has allegedly left staff there “gobsmacked”.

According to national newspaper reports, Healey – who is expected to be released early next year – was allowed to spend time with her boyfriend during her spell away from the jail, but the Prison Service is staying tight-lipped about the situation.

The 26-year-old was only 15 when she and her friend Sarah Davey, then 14, killed widow Lily Lilley at her home in Failsworth, near the Lancashire town of Oldham.

The two girls had run away from home before befriending the lonely 71-year-old, who invited them in for a cup of tea – only to endure what a judge described as “unspeakable cruelty” as the pair taunted her, squirted her with shampoo and cut her legs with a knife.

Then they choked her to death with a gag tied so tightly her false teeth were driven down her throat, before cramming her body into a bin and dumping it in a canal.

At the time, the detective who led the investigation into her murder, described it as a “calculatedly wicked attack”.

Inmates nearing the end of their sentences are placed at Askham Grange – which, as of last October, was able to accommodate 128 prisoners – to give them opportunities of being reintegrated into the community, with the day release procedure being part of this process.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We do not comment on individual prisoners.

“All those located at open conditions have been risk-assessed and categorised as being of low risk to the public.

“The Prison Service provides mother and baby units for the benefit of the prisoners’ babies who would otherwise have to be separated from their mothers.

“The primary consideration is the best interest of the children.”

He added that the time inmates spend in open prisons allows them to find work, rebuild links to their family and ensure their housing needs are met ahead of their release.

“For long-term prisoners, these are essential components for successful resettlement and an important factor in protecting the public,” he said.