after spending 20 years behind bars.

Prison chiefs have arranged for the murderer's release on December 19, when he will have served his full sentence.

But fears have already been raised that he will strike again.

It will be the 46-year-old's first taste of full-time freedom since he raped and strangled an 11-year-old Paget Primary schoolgirl.

Connie Furtado, whose parents and brother returned to the Azores shortly after her murder, was strangled with her own school tie in February, 1978.

Her body was found on wasteland near the old railway right-of-way on Ord Road, Warwick, just a few hundred yards from her home.

Connie, a pretty Portuguese girl, had last been seen alive near Lines Grocery Shop on Ord Road.

Johnson was sentenced to death for her murder.

But the Court of Appeal commuted the sentence to life imprisonment -- a maximum of 20 years.

He was given parole in 1991, but broke it in October that year when he was found having sex with a prostitute when he was meant to be at a drugs counselling session.

Now Johnson has to be released, because he has served his entire term.

And Sheelagh Cooper, of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, said she feared he could strike again unless he was given proper rehabilitation every day.

She said: "I'm concerned on behalf of all the children of Bermuda.

"With the exception of the last few months, my understanding is that he's received virtually no treatment and clearly it takes more than a few months to alter the course of a lifetime.

"In my opinion, it's not a question of whether this man reoffends. It's more a question of when -- if we don't have a very solid, capable and intensive follow-up programme on a daily basis.'' Mrs. Cooper backed calls from Shadow Social Services Minister Renee Webb for Government to build the long-promised halfway house for sex offenders in transition from prison.

Ms Webb said Government promised the halfway house before the last election in October, 1993.

She added: "This sad state of affairs is causing grave public concern.

"We need to be certain that every effort is being made so that Mr. Johnson does not commit another heinous crime against a child.

"The public needs to be confident that every effort is being taken to ensure that Mr. Johnson is adequately housed and monitored.

"While it is true that Mr. Johnson has attended programmes to rehabilitate him while in prison, the success rate for sex offenders is not highly successful without assistance, ongoing psychological counselling and monitoring upon release.'' She said Government had "failed the people of Bermuda'', Johnson himself and other prisoners who do not want to reoffend.

But Prisons Commissioner Edward Dyer said: "He's been specifically involved in the sex offender's programme for some time now and that's all I can really say.

"The halfway house proposal is still somewhere between the Department of Prisons and Works and Engineering.'' MURDER MUR