Kenneth Fenton, drunk driver who killed Vancouver Island Mountie, granted limited day parole

The man who killed an RCMP officer in a drunk-driving crash on Vancouver Island in 2016 has been granted day parole after a hearing that the late officer's family says it didn't know was happening.

Kenneth Fenton appeared before the parole board early Monday. He has been allowed to attend a treatment centre in the Fraser Valley, with conditions, for 70 days. Once that period is up, Fenton will have to return to prison so the parole board can reassess his status.

Fenton was sentenced for Const. Sarah Beckett's death after he pleaded guilty to impaired driving and dangerous driving causing death in July 2017. 

Beckett was an 11-year veteran of the RCMP and had recently returned from maternity leave after having her second son when Fenton crashed into her marked police car in the Victoria suburb of Langford, B.C., on April 5, 2016.

She was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after the crash. She was 32.

3.5 times legal limit

Fenton, who had run a red light, had more than 3.5 times the legal limit of alcohol in his system when he hit Beckett's cruiser. He was doing between 76 and 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, only braking just before colliding with the cruiser.

He is also serving an additional 18 months in prison for driving drunk and seriously injuring a passenger in May 2016 — a month-and-a-half after the crash that killed Beckett.

Beckett's husband, Brad Ashenbrenner, said no one from the parole board told him or Beckett's mother that Monday's hearing was happening. He said he only heard about it when he got a phone call from media on Sunday night.

"I have a really sour taste in my mouth about the parole board now," he said Monday. "I never missed a court date ... and I didn't intend to miss this one. But I didn't know about this."

Ashenbrenner questioned why Fenton can't receive treatment inside, rather than being allowed outside to seek the help.

"I don't understand why he needs to be let out in the general public ... Why don't they bring [professional help] inside?" he said. "If I would've been notified about this, I would've gone to the meeting and expressed the exact same thing."

CBC News has reached out to the parole board for comment, but Monday's hearing heard that Fenton has already completed a treatment program inside Matsqui Prison and has begun the same program a second time.

His parole officer told the board he believes Fenton would benefit from further treatment only available outside of the prison.

Parole conditions

Fenton must also abide by a number of conditions while out on parole. He cannot use drugs or alcohol, drive a registered vehicle, visit Vancouver Island without permission, or associate with criminals or people who use drugs. He is forbidden from contacting Beckett's family.

He has also been ordered to attend one-on-one counselling and must report any friendships with women — intimate or non-intimate — to his parole supervisor.

Members of the parole board said they had concerns about Fenton's ability to be completely honest and accept responsibility for his actions. They also found he'd only recently realized he had a problem with alcoholism, despite having lived with the disease for more than a decade.

He became eligible for day parole on Nov. 15.