Child killer David McGreavy denied release from prison

Updated

A man who killed three children before hanging their mutilated bodies on a fence outside their home has been denied release from prison.

David McGreavy killed Paul Ralph, four, and his sisters Dawn, two, and nine-month-old Samantha in their Worcester home.

Paul had been strangled, Dawn was found with her throat cut, and Samantha died from a compound fracture to the skull.

McGreavy, a family friend and lodger, then impaled their bodies on the spiked garden railings of a house in Gillam Street, Rainbow Hill.

He claimed he killed the children because one of them would not stop crying, and was sentenced to life for the murders in 1973.

His application for parole was turned down on Friday.

The children's mother Dorothy Urry, 65, said dying in prison would be "too much of a luxury" for McGreavy and he should never be released.

"They shouldn't even be considering it. He hasn't done his time and that's all there is to it," she said.

She added: "This has been going on for the last seven or eight years - I've got to fight every year to keep him in prison.

"Why should I have to keep fighting? There should be no question about keeping him in. He should be left in there until he bloody dies and even that's too much of a luxury for him."

The Parole Board rejected McGreavy's latest application for release and said his case will be reviewed within two years.

A spokesman said: "We can confirm that a panel of the board has not directed the release of David McGreavy.

"Under current legislation David McGreavy will be eligible for a further review within two years.

"The date of the next review will be set by the Ministry of Justice.

"The Parole Board is unable to comment on the specifics of individual cases."

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