Killer freed just 2 weeks before cannibal horror
AN ‘immensely dangerous’ cannibal killer with a string of violent convictions was released from prison just two weeks before he slaughtered a young woman.
The family of Cerys Yemm last night demanded answers to why Matthew Williams was freed.
Miss Yemm, a 22-year-old shopworker, was killed by Williams in the hotel room where he had been placed by the local authority following his release from prison.
An inquest heard Williams, 34, stabbed Miss Yemm with a screwdriver in a ‘demonic’ attack, causing 89 injuries across her body, before he tried to eat her corpse.
Jurors were told the hotelier who discovered the scene sobbed as she called 999 and told call handlers: ‘He’s eating her.’ Williams died after he was shot by police with a Taser in his room at the Sirhowy Arms Hotel, in Argoed, South Wales, shortly after he killed Miss Yemm in November 2014.
As the inquests into both deaths concluded yesterday, critics said even a cursory look at Williams’s criminal record would have revealed the ‘massive’ risk he posed to society. He had 26 convictions for 78 offences, 41 of which resulted in juvenile custodial sentences and 14 offences that resulted in adult jail sentences. Yet despite his ongoing mental health problems and drug abuse, he was granted a fresh start by the Probation Service and let free into the community without any post-release support.
In a statement outside Gwent Coroner’s Court, Miss Yemm’s family said they had been seeking answers to why the agencies responsible for protecting the public from violent offenders could not prevent her death.
They added: ‘ We heard evidence that due to delays and errors in two criminal investigations, one of which included threats to kill, those prosecutions did not proceed and Williams was released from prison in October 2014 when he
‘Waiting to happen’
should have been in custody awaiting justice.’ Williams was released having completed his 27-month sentence for blackmail 14 days before the attack on Miss Yemm.
The inquest heard a probation risk assessment compiled two weeks before Williams was released classed him as a ‘medium risk’ of serious harm to the public.
Jurors ruled Miss Yemm had been unlawfully killed. Williams died through a ‘culmination of illicit drug use and struggle against restraint’.
Professor Robert Snowden, a lecturer at Cardiff University, said it was ‘obvious’ this was ‘a terrible thing waiting to happen’. Chris Evans, MP for Islwyn, called for probation officers to be given more power over released offenders.