The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) expressed “profound regret” that a murderer’s parole dates were disclosed to a local newspaper before the victim’s family.
Russell Causley was released in 2020 for the murder of his wife Carole Packman in Bournemouth in the 1980s, but he was returned to prison in November of last year.
Ms. Packman’s family had been inquiring about the last parole hearing for 79-year-old Causley for weeks.
However, they had to first read about it in the Bournemouth Daily Echo.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice stated, “We are very sorry for the grief this has caused Carole’s family and are working closely with the Parole Board to prevent this type of error from occurring in the future.”
Neil Gillingham, the grandson of Causley and Ms. Packman, stated that the family also desired to know what the killer’s license violation was to make appropriate parole statements.
The license limitations were believed to restrict his access to certain areas, particularly those in which Causley had told fellow convicts he had hidden his wife’s remains.
Mr. Gillingham, 32, stated, “If people ask me if I think my grandfather should be released, my opinion would alter drastically and vary greatly based on the license violation.”
In the early 1990s, Causley was exposed as a murderer after a failed attempt to fake his death as part of an intricate insurance scam. Causley and his wife worked in the aviation sector.
His daughter has now disclosed that Causley subjected her and her mother to physical and psychological abuse, in addition to transferring his partner into the family home.
Mr. Gillingham described his grandfather as “shrewd” and claimed that parole hearings were used by Causley as a “platform to continue to viciously and mentally assault my mother and me.”
Since becoming eligible for release in 2012, Causley has had parole hearings regularly.
Mr. Gillingham stated, “The anguish, the trauma, and the length of the fight are taking their toll – not only on my mother, but also on me, and I have no doubt on Russell Causley as well.”
“Everything would be resolved in an instant if he dared to speak out and do the honorable, decent thing [by revealing where the body is].”
Helen’s Law received royal assent in 2020, following a campaign by Helen McCourt’s mother. It makes the Parole Board legally obligated to evaluate the suffering caused by murderers who refuse to divulge the whereabouts of a victim’s body.
However, Mr. Gillingham stated that the legislation was a “law without teeth” and had failed to achieve its goal of incarcerating murderers like Causley.
“I stated he was incapable of self-control, and guess what? It is not surprising that he is back in prison, and we’re back on the parole hearing roller coaster “said Mr. Gillingham.
Helen’s Provision allows judges to impose harsher terms on murderers who conceal their victim’s remains, but a “no body, no parole” law would have likely been “successfully contested in court,” according to a Ministry of Justice official.
There are also practical concerns in that such a measure could have incentivized perpetrators to lie, so exacerbating the suffering of victims’ families,” the spokeswoman continued.
A spokeswoman for the Parole Board stated that disclosing the specifics of a parole violation was “not typical procedure.”
The parole hearing for Causley could be among the first in British history to be held in public.
