The driver convicted in the death of a West Shore RCMP officer is back on mandatory parole.
Kenneth Jacob Fenton’s statutory parole was cancelled in April, with conditions added to his statutory release, according to a June 15 Parole Board of Canada decision.
New conditions require Fenton to participate in one-on-one counselling with a mental health professional in the field of emotions management and not associate or communicate with anyone involved in criminal activity or substance abuse.
Fenton has since 2017 been serving a five-and-a-half year sentence for several driving convictions, including impaired driving causing death and flight causing death.
After a night of heavy drinking in 2016, Fenton ran a red light in the Greater Victoria suburb of Langford and struck a police vehicle, killing Const. Sarah Beckett. The sentencing judge also took into account a subsequent impaired driving-related crash near the Malahat a month later.
RELATED: Langford man in Sarah Beckett drunk driving death returned to halfway house
Fenton was granted day parole for treatment in January 2019 and regular day parole in August of that year under several conditions. He transitioned to statutory parole in March 2021.
His statutory release conditions include not consuming alcohol or drugs, living in a designated residential facility, reporting all intimate relationships and friendships with females to his parole officer, following a treatment plan for substance abuse and attitude, and not to own or operate a vehicle. He is also not allowed on Vancouver Island without written permission.
Fenton was moved back to a halfway house in October 2021 with added interventions, including a curfew and a mandated return to Alcoholics Anonymous after urine samples showed cocaine.
His statutory parole was cancelled this April after urine samples tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine and THC. Fenton admitted he’d knowingly used illegal marijuana products because they’re cheaper.
The parole board heard confirmation Fenton has reached out to a counsellor and received a letter of support from his employer, and about the possibility of faulty urine tests. The board also took into consideration that he has found full time employment and is meeting financial and parental responsibilities.
Aside from his parole conditions, Fenton is subject to a lifetime firearms and weapons prohibition, a DNA order, a ban on driving during his sentence and a five-year driving prohibition following that.
Do you have a story tip? Email: c.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
