Please don’t free axe killer who cut off my sister’s head
Victim’s anguished family beg parole board to keep murderer behind bars
AN axe killer who beheaded his wife then calmly called 999 is bidding for freedom.
But the victim’s family have told parole bosses the slaying was “so sickening and so violent” that Emrys Taylor should never be freed.
A NOTORIOUS axe killer is being considered for early release from his life sentence – but the victim’s family have begged prison chiefs to keep him locked up.
Emrys Taylor murdered his wife Lillian with an axe while she was talking on the phone to her mum, Lena.
After chopping her head in half, Taylor made a 999 call, telling the operator: “I’ve just killed my wife. I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter.
“I’ve f***ing bashed her head in. There’s no need for an ambulance. Take her straight to the morgue.”
Now Lillian’s family have been told that Emrys – aged 77 – is being considered for parole.
But sister Liz Martin has written to the Parole Board to explain the devastating impact the murder of Lillian, 43, had on her family. She has begged the authorities to keep Taylor locked up.
Liz added: “Nothing can give us back Lillian – so I don’t see why he should be shown mercy. He deserves to die in prison for what he did.”
Taylor claimed he had been driven to carry out the savage attack in April 2008 by his mother-in-law Lena.
In reality, he was jealous of Lillian’s devotion to her mum, the fact that she spent a lot of time caring for her and that she called her each night to make sure she was OK. While Lillian was making her usual call on the evening she died, her husband walked out to a garden shed to collect the axe. He then walked back through the garden and the house in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, before striking Lillian from behind, without warning, as she chatted with her mum. The first blow killed her, but the brute – then aged 64 – struck several more. Lena heard the noise on the other end of the line and said to her husband Matthew: “He’s killed her.”
Taylor was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2008, but the punishment part of the sentence was set at just 12 years six months. As he was remanded from the night of the killing, he is now eligible to apply for release on parole.
Taylor applied for and was granted a transfer to a Welsh prison some years ago and is still imprisoned in his homeland, but his release remains a matter for the Scottish authorities.
Liz was notified earlier this year of her right to register an interest through the Victim Notification Scheme.
She had understood she would also be given an opportunity to make a statement to the board before it considered his case, so was shocked to receive a letter last month saying the matter was already being contemplated.
However, after making contact again, she was told she could email her thoughts to the board and that these would be taken into consideration before a final decision was made.
She told the Record last night: “It was really hard to have to relive it all again to gather my thoughts, but I have told the board I believe his crime was so sickening and so violent you had to assume he would always remain a danger.
“What he did literally killed my mother as well. She was 79 and not all that well, but with Lillian around she was happy and well-loved.
“She was just miserable and crying all the time and taking to her bed. It made it worse when he tried to claim our mum had driven him to it, which was cruel and malicious.
“He hated Mum because Lillian loved her so much, and he wanted to hurt her, which is why he killed her when they were talking.
“He wanted Mum to hear it. She said she’d never forget the gurgling sound that followed the blow. She just knew he’d killed her.
“She was totally consumed by her grief for Lillian and gave up. She was dead within a year.”
Liz added that her dad Matthew, who was 80 at the time of the murder, also died a short time later from cancer.
Liz said she had tried to explain to the board that the murder had clearly been premeditated.
She said: “He and his legal team presented it as a ‘ heat of the moment’ thing. That might have been more reasonable if he’d had the axe in his hand and they were having a fight.
“But my sister was doing what she did every night at that time, talking to her mum to be sure she was OK.
“He had to walk through the house and garden and take time to get keys to go through two or three locked doors to reach the axe, then walk back to where she was sitting.
“It would be hard to imagine a more savage act or a more brutal death.”
Liz added that the bizarre 999 call made by Taylor also showed how dangerous he was – showing he had no regard for his wife, only the fact that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
The Parole Board does not comment on individual cases.