Carole Packman was murdered in Bournemouth in 1985 by Russell Causley, 79, who has steadfastly refused to say where her body has been released.
After Causley fought for his release last month, the Parole Board decided it was safe for him to be released from jail.
The MoJ acknowledged that it had decided not to appeal the ruling.
According to a spokeswoman, “We have carefully reviewed the Parole Board’s ruling, but careful legal analysis found no justification to request that they reconsider.”
Russell Causley will live under tight observation and be subject to return to prison if he violates the stringent terms of his parole, which we are aware will be extremely distressing for Carole Packman’s family.
In situations like this, our parole changes would protect the rights of victims by elevating the importance of public safety in parole decisions and introducing a ministerial veto over the release of the worst offenders.
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, has backed the family of Mrs. Packman’s request for a public hearing.
In a first for UK legal history, the public and media were permitted to observe Causley’s parole hearing at HMP Lewes.
After serving 23 years of a life sentence, the former aviation engineer was initially released in 2020, but was later sent back to prison for violating the terms of his licence. This information was presented to a panel of three parole judges.
Causley acknowledged losing touch with his probation officers and failing to occupy his designated lodging, which he attributed to a “silly mistake.”
Causley was a “self-confessed liar,” according to the Parole Board, but it determined he was at “minimal risk of repeat offending.”
At the age of 40, Carole Packman vanished in 1985, but her body has never been located.
Causley was sentenced to prison twice for the murder of Mrs. Packman: once in 1996 and once in 2004 following a voided conviction.
He had first eluded punishment for the better part of a decade and was only found out when he failed in an intricate insurance fraud in which he tried to fake his own death.
Causley has frequently altered his story about what happened to his wife, most recently professing innocence and saying his only involvement was in burning her remains in his garden.
He ascribed the murder to his ex-lover Patricia Causley, whose identity he stole, at the parole hearing last month.
The parole judges stated that after a police inquiry, “no credible evidence” was uncovered against Patricia Causley, who was never put on trial for the murder.
Is the decision to release Russell Causley right or wrong?
