THEY SAID HE’D NEVER BE FREED
Mother’s outrage as parole board say killer who impaled her three children on spikes should be cleared for release
A MOTHER has told of her devastation after finding out the man who murdered her three young children and impaled their mutilated bodies on spikes is to be released from jail.
Elsie Urry, 68, said David McGreavy should die behind bars like notorious child killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
McGreavy, then 21, was babysitting at Mrs Urry’s home in Worcester when he snapped and murdered Paul Ralph, aged four, and his sisters Dawn, two, and nine-month- old Samantha in a crime that shocked the nation. He said he did it because Samantha would not stop crying.
McGreavy, dubbed the Monster of Worcester, was jailed for life in 1973 but the parole board has now cleared him for release, despite desperate pleas from Mrs Urry.
She wrote a letter to the board describing the impact McGreavy’s crimes had on her life, but a threeman panel said he was no longer a threat to the public.
And last night, the killer’s own brother, Bob McGreavy, 63, said he should never be released.
Mr McGreavy, a construction worker, said: ‘He took three lives so he should serve three life terms.’
Mrs Urry, who was unable to have any more children, said: ‘What this animal did to my children was every bit as bad as what the Moors Murderers did. But Ian Brady and Myra Hindley never left prison before they died, so why the hell should he?
‘He put my babies on spikes, for God’s sake – he mutilated them and they died in agony. I wanted him dead and to suffer like they had but was reassured after his trial that his crime was so terrible he would never walk free again. But Tragedy: Mrs Urry with, from left, Paul, Samantha and Dawn despite begging them to keep him locked up, I have now finally been betrayed.’
Mrs Urry was told about McGreavy’s imminent release by a worker from Victim Support, her partner Robert Alexander said.
Mrs Urry tried to take her own life after the gruesome crime and separated from the children’s father, Clive Ralph, before moving to Andover, Hampshire, where she lives with Mr Alexander. He said yesterday he was ‘trying to console her as best I can’.
A summary of the decision by the parole board stated that during his 45 years in custody, McGreavy, 67, had changed ‘considerably’ and a psychologist had identified ‘a number of factors which make it less likely’ he would reoffend. ‘These included
his improved self- control and the fact that Mr McGreavy has learnt to remain calm in stressful situations,’ it stated.
McGreavy was a friend of Mrs Urry, then known as Dorothy Ralph, and her then husband. The killer lived with the couple after being kicked out of the Royal Navy, and often looked after the couple’s children.
On the night of the murders – Friday, April 13, 1973 – Mr Ralph asked McGreavy to watch them while he went to collect his wife from a nearby pub where she worked.
But McGreavy went berserk when Samantha started crying and fractured her skull. He then used a wire to strangle Paul and cut Dawn’s throat before putting their bodies on a neighbour’s spiked fence. McGreavy has been eligible for parole for 25 years, and is understood to have applied at least nine times.
In 2006, he was moved to an open prison and was allowed out on day release – when he was pictured walking the streets in Liverpool – but he was returned to a closed jail following a national outcry.
McGreavy is expected to be released to a bail hostel after Christmas, The Sun reported. He is currently in category C Warren Hill prison, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He may be given a new identity.
The Parole Board said ‘ public safety is our No 1 priority’.