Wife killer Russell Causley who refused to reveal where he hid his victim’s body nearly 40 years ago is released from prison
- Russell Causley was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman
- Parole Board ruled last month that he was suitable to be released from prison
- The Ministry of Justice has now confirmed this has taken place
A murderer who has never revealed where he hid his wife’s body has been freed from jail.
Russell Causley made UK legal history last year when he became the first prisoner to face a public parole hearing.
He was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman, who disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into the family home in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Causley was released in 2020 after serving more than 23 years behind bars for the murder but was sent back to jail the following year when he breached his licence conditions.
The Parole Board ruled last month that he was suitable to be released from prison again. Today, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed this had taken place.
Russell Causley became the first prisoner to face a public parole hearing and was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman (pictured left)
An MoJ spokeswoman said: ‘We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for Carole Packman’s family, but Russell Causley will be under close supervision for the rest of his life and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release.
‘Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.’
Last month, the Parole Board announced he was suitable to be released from prison.
At the time, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab – who described Causley as a ‘calculated killer’ who ‘callously prolonged the suffering’ of Ms Packman’s loved ones by ‘refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her body’ – said he was ‘carefully’ considering whether to appeal against the decision.
On Tuesday the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed it would not ask the Parole Board to reconsider the ruling because there were no grounds to do so.
A MoJ spokeswoman said: ‘We know this will be an incredibly difficult time for Carole Packman’s family, but Russell Causley will be under close supervision for the rest of his life and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release.
‘Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a Ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.’
The murderer never revealed where he hid his wife’s body after killing her
Carole Packman disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into the family home in Bournemouth, Dorset
Ms Packman’s daughter Samantha Gillingham (pictured above), from Northamptonshire, previously said she was ‘disappointed’ by the decision to free him again and branded the parole process a ‘tick-box exercise’
What happened to Carole Packman?
Carole Packman disappeared in 1985, a year after Causley moved his lover into their home in Bournemouth
Carole Packman disappeared from her family home in Bournemouth in 1985.
Her daughter Sam Gillingham, then 16, came home from school to find a note, supposedly from her mother, along with her wedding ring. The letter said that she was leaving their family.
The year before, Causley moved his lover Patricia Causley into the house and later changed his surname to hers.
It was not until 10 years later, when Causley was jailed for two years for trying to fake his death in a boating accident that he was found guilty of her murder. He allegedly made a jail cell confession, telling of the ‘perfect’ murder of his ‘b**** wife’.
Police reopened their investigation into his wife’s disappearance.
Causley was convicted of murder in 1996, but it was quashed in 2003.
In 2004, he was found guilty at a retrial after his sister said she had heard him admit the killing.
Now aged 79, he was the first killer in British legal history to be found guilty without his victim’s body ever being found.
‘Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.’
The Justice Secretary can only challenge Parole Board decisions if there is an error of law or if there is evidence the process has been followed incorrectly, the same threshold as for judicial reviews.
Causley and Ms Packman’s daughter Samantha Gillingham, from Northamptonshire, previously said she was ‘disappointed’ by the decision to free him again and branded the parole process a ‘tick-box exercise’, adding: ‘There’s nothing that I can do about it … We still don’t know where my mother is.’
She still hopes meet her father, after decades of asking to confront him about her mother’s disappearance.
The Parole Board said reviews are carried out ‘thoroughly and with extreme care’ and protecting the public was the ‘number one priority’.
Causley will be subject to ‘strict’ licence conditions, including being required to live at a certain address as well as facing restrictions on his movements, activities and who he contacts.
He was freed from prison in 2020 after his sixth parole review and spending more than 23 years behind bars for the murder.
However Causley was sent back to jail in November last year for breaching his licence conditions, the public hearing was told.
He failed to answer a phone call from his probation officer and disappearing from his bail hostel overnight without his phone or wallet.
The hearing, which took place in a prison, began with relatives, members of the public and journalists allowed to watch the proceedings on a live videolink from the Parole Board’s offices in Canary Wharf, London.
Causley’s behaviour was said by a member of prison staff to have been ‘exemplary’ since he has been back in jail.
Asked about the period during which he was released from prison in late 2020, he said that he got on well with staff at the hostel where he was living and viewed them ‘more as friends’, but ‘could have had a better rapport’ with his probation officer.
He spent his time reading, doing crosswords, walking and shopping, Causley told the panel.
In the report documenting his release decision, the Parole Board Decision Summary stated: ‘The panel was mindful of Mr Causley’s capacity to lie, deceive and manipulate, and was not entirely convinced by his explanations for his intentions and conduct that day after he left the designated accommodation.’
Source: Read Full Article
