The Probation Service has launched an internal inquiry after a murderer released on life licence killed a care worker before hanging himself.
Shaun Clarke, 45, was found dead in woodland near Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, on Monday, shortly after 30-year-old Donna Wilson died in hospital from stab wounds.
Staffordshire Probation Service confirmed that Clarke was sentenced to life imprisonment at Leeds Crown court on September 12 1987.
He then served his sentence at jails in Wakefield, Nottingham and Rutland before being transferred to HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire in July 2000.
He was freed from Sudbury on life licence in May 2003 and settled in Burton, initially in a hostel and then in housing association rented property.
A Probation Service spokesman said: "Mr Clarke was subject to life licence from release from prison and had complied with the requirements of the licence.
"The Probation Service is undertaking an internal inquiry, according to normal procedures in such cases, and will co-operate with the coroner's process."
It emerged earlier that Miss Wilson, who was stabbed at her home in Burton on Sunday, had reported Clarke to the police a week before her death.
Staffordshire Police confirmed that it had contact with both Clarke and Miss Wilson shortly before their deaths.
A police spokesman said: "In line with Independent Police Complaints Commission legislation on police contact in such circumstances, the force has referred the matter to the IPCC."
