Glyn Razzell: Killer who won't reveal location of victim's body cannot be released from jail, High Court rules

A man who killed his estranged wife but has never revealed where her body is can no longer be released from prison, the High Court has ruled.

Glyn Razzell was convicted in November 2003 of murdering 41-year-old mother-of-four Linda Razzell, who disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College, Wiltshire, the previous year amid divorce proceedings.

The Parole Board ruled three times from 2019 that Razzell should remain behind bars, but in April decided he could be released on licence.

This was despite it being required to consider an inmate's refusal to reveal where their victim's remains are.

The Ministry of Justice referred the board's decision to the High Court, arguing it should be reversed on the basis it could undermine public confidence.

After a two-day hearing over the legal challenge, the court said today that Razzell must stay behind bars.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb stated she was "not satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that Glyn Razzell be confined".

She said: "I am not persuaded that the risk has diminished to such a level that offender management is capable of keeping the public safe if the defendant is released."

The judge continued that there were "significant gaps" in Razzell's "understanding of the risk he poses", meaning it was "far from sufficient to persuade me that there is a secure foundation" for the Parole Board's conclusion.

She also said that the plan to manage Razzell's release "relies on trust that has not been earned".

The 66-year-old is currently held in an open prison in Suffolk, and has both a job and a property outside the prison.

The murderer's daughter Catherine Razzell said that his decision not to reveal the location of her body means "there is no peace for us", after the High Court quashed the Parole Board's decision to release him on licence.

In a previous statement, she described her father as "a danger, and women have good reason to feel less safe if he is released".

Linda Razzell's partner Greg Worrall told the court that Razzell was exerting "coercive control over people even in death".

The obligation to consider a convict's refusal to reveal the location of remains is known as "Helen's Law", after Helen McCourt.

She was killed in 1988 but her murderer, Ian Simms, never disclosed where he put her body. He was released in 2020 and died in 2022.

Razzell, of Crewkerne, Somerset, denied murdering his estranged wife but was convicted after traces of her blood were found in a car he had borrowed.

Her body has never been recovered but he was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years and for the last nine years he's been in an open prison.

The Parole Board said he is no longer a danger and not revealing where the body is cannot be a bar to releasing him.

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However, government lawyers told the court he is still a danger. Ms Razzell's family argued he shouldn't be released until he reveals the whereabouts of her remains.

Razzell lost a parole bid three times before his latest hearing, including in 2021 when he became the first person to be denied under Helen's Law.

Appearing via video link at the High Court, Mr Worrall said: "We have rebuilt our lives based on the fact [Razzell] cannot harm us any more."

He said that Mrs Razzell's family had "picked up the pieces of our shattered lives" with the support of friends and family, and "found love and purpose in our new lives" despite a "sadness which will always be there".

Mr Worrall added that during Razzell's multiple parole applications, he could "show remorse" and disclose where Mrs Razzell's remains were, saying: "He knows the pain this is causing Linda's family and children.

"We need an end to this ongoing agony."

Referencing Helen's Law in her statement, Catherine Razzell said: "The panel described our father as demonstrating 'hypocrisy and callousness by continuing his denials'. He has done no meaningful rehabilitative work. It released him anyway.

"We want to understand how those two things are reconcilable - and what Helen's Law can be said to offer victims' families if this is its application in practice."

Ms Razzell added: "My father committed murder. The Parole Board believe he committed coercive control. He denies guilt and will not tell us where our mother is.

"He has done nothing to address this. He is therefore a danger and women have good reason to feel less safe if he is released."

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said on Friday that Mrs Razzell's loved ones had "described their suffering with remarkable moral clarity".

She added: "The on-going agony of not being able to lay their beloved mother to rest and the regular pain of having to write down how they are coping with the hurt that invades so much of their lives should have rung in the defendant's ears. Perhaps it does?"

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