Triple child killer David McGreavy could be freed on parole

David McGreavy was convicted of the murder of three children in 1973

A man who murdered three young children and impaled their bodies on railings is being considered for release, the Parole Board has confirmed.

David McGreavy was jailed in 1973 for murdering Paul Ralph, four, and his sisters, Dawn, two, and nine-month-old Samantha.

The children's mutilated bodies were found on garden railings at their home in Gillam Street, Worcester.

Their mother, Dorothy Ralph, 65, said McGreavy should never be freed.

More on this and other stories from Hereford and Worcester

She said she has written to the Parole Board several times over the last seven years to oppose plans to release McGreavy, who was lodging with her family when he carried out the attacks.

'He battered them'

"Why should I have to keep fighting? There should be no question about keeping him in," she said.

"He should be left in there until he bloody dies and even that's too much of a luxury for him."

A spokesman for the Parole Board confirmed McGreavy's case is "under consideration", but said they had not been informed of the decision.

Speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester, Ian Furlong was 10 years old when his half-siblings were murdered.

The 53-year-old said he had guessed McGreavy would eventually be released, but said the severity of his crimes - which have been "a scar on Worcester's history for a long, long time" - should mean he is never freed.

"I'm not happy about it and still don't understand how a person murders three children and is ever released," he said.

"You know he didn't just murder those children, he battered them, he mutilated them, he slashed their throats and threw them out like some sort of trash.

"I really don't understand how this person could be called a human being."

Robin Walker, MP for Worcester, said he had written to the Ministry of Justice to outline his concerns over McGreavy's possible release.

He said: "It [the case] just reiterates a huge strength of feeling and deep concern that there is in Worcester and said the local view is strongly that crimes this heinous, it is better for life to mean life."