PLANNING row killer Albert Dryden must serve at least another four years of the life sentences imposed after the point-blank gunning down of a senior council officer.

The Prison Service confirmed that the 60-year-old former steel worker, convicted of killing Derwentside council's chief planning officer Harry Collinson after a trial in 1992, will not be considered for parole until 2004.

Rumours circulated that Dryden was being prepared for early release following a recent transfer from Durham's top-security Frankland Jail to the lower category "local" prison at Nottingham.

But a Prison Service spokesman said the original tariff imposed after the trial means Dryden will not be liable for parole consideration for another four years.

Mr Collinson died after being shot twice at close range while serving a demolition notice at Dryden's illegally-erected bungalow, in countryside at Butsfield, near Consett, County Durham, in June 1991.

Dryden's claim that his actions were due to diminished responsibility were rejected by the jury at Newcastle Crown Court and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

A similar sentence was imposed for the attempted murder of Derwentside council solicitor Michael Dunstan, while Dryden was also sentenced to seven years each for the wounding of onlookers, BBC news reporter Tony Belmont and PC Stephen Campbell, who were shot in the arm and lower back, respectively, following the killing of Mr Collinson.

The single-storey cottage built on the edge of farmland by Dryden was later demolished.