Day parole granted to drunk driver who killed Mountie on Vancouver Island

Kenneth Fenton, the drunk driver who struck and killed an RCMP officer in a drunk-driving crash on southern Vancouver Island in 2016, has been granted day parole for six months.

Fenton was sentenced to four years in prison after his truck rammed into Const. Sarah Beckett's RCMP cruiser in Langford, B.C. Hehad a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he ran a red light and hit Beckett's cruiser broadside.

Beckett, a mother of two,was an 11-year RCMPveteran who had recently returned from maternity leave before her death.

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.

Fentonwas granted limited day parole for 70 days in January to attend a treatment centre in the Fraser Valley.

After a review Friday, the parole board approved day parole for six months. The board said Fenton had made progress in prison and successfully completed a residential substance abuse treatment program.

The day parole comes with a number of conditions.

He cannot use drugs,alcohol ordrive a registered vehicle, and mustreport any intimate sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with women to his parole supervisor, and follow a treatment plan.

He is forbidden from visiting West Shore communities on Vancouver Island including Colwood, Metchosin, Langford and Sooke and from contacting Beckett's family, friends or co-workers including by social media.