Wife killer from Bournemouth to have first public parole hearing
Russell Causley was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman, who disappeared in 1985
Last updated 20th Sep 2022
A man who murdered his wife almost 40 years ago will become the first prisoner to have a public parole board hearing.
An application made for the next hearing to consider the release of Russell Causley, now in his late 70s, to take place in public has been granted, the Parole Board said on Tuesday.
It follows changes in law in June 2022, making it possible for victims and members of the public to request that a parole hearing be heard in public.
Causley was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman, who disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into their home in Bournemouth, Dorset.
He was freed from prison in 2020, after serving more than 23 years for the murder, but was returned to jail in November last year after breaching his licence conditions.
Causley, who never revealed where he hid Ms Packman's body, is next due to face the Parole Board for review in October.
His grandson, Neil Gillingham, applied for the hearing to take place in public in a bid to shine a light on what he sees as the failure of legal changes designed to make it harder to release killers who refuse to reveal the whereabouts of their victims' bodies.