Carole Packman murder: Russell Causley granted parole

Causley has never revealed the whereabouts of his wife Carole Packman's body

A man who murdered his wife is set to be freed from prison despite never revealing the whereabouts of her body.

Russell Causley killed Carole Packman in 1985 but evaded justice for a decade after faking his own death as part of an elaborate insurance scam.

Causley, 78, has changed his account of the Bournemouth murder multiple times.

Neil Gillingham, his grandson, said he felt like Causley was "laughing at us" and that "the sense of injustice is absolutely huge".

Causley, who has been eligible to be considered for parole since 2012, is expected to be released from prison in 28 days.

Neil Gillingham said he believes his grandfather is still "wicked and arrogant"

Mr Gillingham, 30, who has spent most of his adult life challenging Causley's bids for release, told the BBC his family had been left distraught by the decision.

"I've put so much faith in the justice system and it's failed us," he said.

"The injustice is absolutely huge. Where is my grandmother? Where is the justice?

"He's just laughing at us. He's thinking 'I murdered Carole and now I've got my freedom'.

"He won, we lost. That's the bottom line."

Causley, pictured in the 1980s, was jailed for fraud after a botched attempt to fake his own death

A summary of the Parole Board's decision said: "The panel took into account the fact that whilst Mr Causley had given various imprecise accounts of how he had disposed of his victim's body, he had never revealed the location of his victim's remains.

"This had caused continuing anguish to his family. The panel concluded that this showed a lack of remorse and victim empathy and that he was a habitual liar.

"However, whilst heartless, the panel concluded that this lack of openness and honesty did not significantly affect the risk that he would cause serious harm in the community which was ultimately the test that must be applied."

A Parole Board spokesman said it had "a huge amount of sympathy" for the family but the panel was "bound by law to focus solely on whether an offender's continued detention is necessary for the protection of the public".

What happened to Carole Packman?

Carole Packman disappeared in 1985

Aviation engineer Causley moved his lover Patricia Causley - whose surname he took after they had an affair while he was married to Mrs Packman - into the family home on Ipswich Road, Bournemouth, in 1984.

The day before her disappearance in 1985, Mrs Packman - then aged 40 - had visited a solicitor to inquire about a divorce.

She was later reported missing by their teenage daughter Samantha, who had witnessed Causley physically and psychologically abusing her mother.

However, Dorset Police reported that Mrs Packman had turned up at a police station to say she was safe and to stop searching for her.

Detectives involved in the case have since admitted the force made a "major mistake" by not making basic identity checks and now believe the woman at the police station was not Mrs Packman.

The case was then closed for nearly a decade, when Causley was caught trying to claim £790,000 in life insurance in 1993 after faking his own death on a boating trip.

He was convicted of murder in 1996 before the conviction was quashed in 2003. A retrial the following year found him guilty again and he was jailed for life.