Murderer recalled to prison after visiting Portsmouth set to be freed from jail

Russell Causley was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman, who disappeared in 1985, a year after he moved his lover into the family home in Bournemouth, Dorset. He was freed from prison in 2020 after serving more than 23 years for the murder but was sent back to jail the following year after breaching his licence conditions.

He was recalled to prison in November 2021 after failing to answer a phone call from his probation officer and was logged as missing after it was found he had disappeared from his bail hostel overnight without his phone or wallet.

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Causley told the hearing he had gone to Portsmouth, where he went to college, and walked around the city before going to dinner. He claimed he was attacked and robbed by three men.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘We have thoroughly examined the Parole Board’s decision but detailed legal advice concluded there were no grounds to ask them to reconsider their decision. We know this will be incredibly difficult for Carole Packman’s family, but Russell Causley will be under close supervision for the rest of his life and can be recalled to prison if he breaches the strict conditions of his release.

‘Our parole reforms will stand up for the rights of victims in cases like this, making public safety the overriding factor in parole decisions and adding a ministerial veto on release of the most serious offenders.’

The justice secretary can only challenge Parole Board decisions if there is an error of law or if there is evidence the process has been followed incorrectly, the same threshold as for judicial reviews.

Causley and Ms Packman’s daughter Samantha Gillingham, from Northamptonshire, previously said she was ‘disappointed’ by the decision to free him again and branded the parole process a ‘tick-box exercise’, adding: ‘There’s nothing that I can do about it – we still don’t know where my mother is.’

She still hopes meet her father, after decades of asking to confront him about her mother’s disappearance.

Causley will be subject to ‘strict’ licence conditions, including being required to live at a certain address as well as facing restrictions on movements, activities and who he contacts.