‘Don’t release killer until he tells whole story’
Families call for crimes of longest-serving prisoner to be re-investigated over possibility of other victims
A SERIAL killer who is the UK’s longest-serving prisoner must not be released until police are certain he was not responsible for further killings, families and MPs have said.
Patrick Mackay was jailed in 1975 after being convicted of three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Two other cases lay on file.
However, Mackay was also linked to six further killings with claims that he confessed to them, before later changing his story to deny any involvement.
He has now been moved to an open prison and is due to appear before the parole board in August to learn if he will be released.
Victor Davies, 63, the son of Ivy Davies, a café owner, who was battered to death with a metal bar in her home in Holland Road, near Great Holland, Essex, and Gareth Johnson, the Dartford MP, are petitioning the Parole Board to allow Mr Davies to give evidence against Mackay and prevent his release.
But as Mackay was not convicted of Mrs Davies’s death, despite confessing to the murder, Mr Davies has been denied the opportunity to write a victim statement for the parole hearing.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We sympathise with Ivy Davies’s family, but by law they are not entitled to contribute towards the parole process for Patrick Mackay, as he was never charged with her murder.”
However, they hope that since the Parole Board changes following the John Worboys case, Mr Davies could apply to make an allegation either via the police or his local probation service to be considered at the hearing.
Mr Johnson will meet the chief executive of the Parole Board on Wednesday to ask that the case is considered and has asked Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to investigate the cases left on file including the murder of a four-year old boy and his grandmother.
Mackay, now 66, was arrested in 1964 following the axe-murder of Fr Anthony Crean, a Roman Catholic priest, who was found in his bathtub at his home in the village of Shorne.
Following his arrest, Mackay became a key suspect in a chain of murders around London and Kent.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Davies pleaded for his mother’s case to be investigated before it was too late.
The coach driver, who lives with his family in Gravesend, said: “I want to find out whether he really did kill my mother or not.”
Asked if he thinks Mackay should be released, Mr Davies responded: “I can’t possibly see how he can be released. That guy will [kill] again, it’s inbuilt in him. There’s no way he’s going to be a reformed citizen. I just want answers. I would be upset if he got out and he had killed my mother – but I don’t know if he did or not.”
As Mackay was charged with manslaughter he was not given a whole-life order and has had 10 parole reviews.
Mr Johnson fears the 11th hearing may see the criminal released.
Addressing David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, in the Commons earlier this month, he said: “Mackay is now eligible for parole and may well have already been moved to an open prison. Does the Secretary of State share my deep concern about the potential release of this man, still only in his 60s, and will he enable me to make the fullest possible representations to the Parole Board?”
Since her death in 1975, the case of Mrs Davies has remained open, but has not been solved – despite new evidence including a carpet with traces of semen on it, which was used to rule out another suspect.
With few of the victims’ family members alive, Mr Johnson believes there is no one left to offer a statement at the hearing and it is paramount that Mr Davies’s mother’s case is heard. He said: “This case blows open all of the weaknesses of the Parole Board system, frankly, that we have. If you have a situation like Patrick Mackay, where there are very few relatives of the victims around, then who is it that can stand up and say, ‘Hang on, don’t release them because of this.’ It’s very unclear.”
He said: “The police need to reinvestigate the matters that were left on file. If the police aren’t doing that, or they won’t do that, then you need the Parole Board to take into account all of these matters that have been left on file that he gave confessions of.”
An Essex Police spokesman urged anyone with evidence to call police. They said: “Ivy Davies’s brutal and tragic murder remains unsolved – but no case is ever closed. We periodically review these cases and continue to seek opportunities as DNA technology continues to advance.
“Over time loyalties change, but what has not changed is the pain Ivy’s family endure by knowing that her killer has not yet faced justice.” 1974: Stephanie Britton and her four-year-old grandson Christopher Martin are stabbed to death at Hadley Green, Herts. Mackay allegedly confessed; later withdrew.
1974: Mackay confessed to pushing a homeless person from Hungerford Bridge. No body was ever found and Mackay withdrew his confession.
1974: Isabella Griffith, was strangled and knifed to death in her Chelsea home by Mackay, who was