Family say murderer who won't reveal location of wife's body should stay in jail

The family of a woman murdered by her husband, who won't say where he left her body, have pleaded for a decision to release him to be reversed

Glyn Razzell was jailed for life with a minimum of almost 16 years in 2003 for murdering his estranged wife, Linda Razzell, whose body has never been found.

The mother-of-four disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College, Wiltshire, in March 2002, amid divorce proceedings.

Razzell was refused parole by the Parole Board three times after 2019. But it decided in April that he could be released on licence despite Helen's Law - which requires the board to consider whether offenders have disclosed the location of a victim's remains.

The Ministry of Justice referred the board's decision to the High Court and a two-day hearing began on Tuesday. Linda Razzell's partner Greg Worrall told the court that Razzell was exerting "coercive control over people even in death".

And in a statement, the murderer's daughter Catherine Razzell described her father as "a danger, and women have good reason to feel less safe if he is released".

'We need an end to this ongoing agony'

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."

Razzell, of Crewkerne, Somerset, has always denied being responsible for the killing, and a Parole Board panel found in 2023 that he "does not want to lose his desired status of being a 'wrongly convicted murderer'".

In its April decision, a Parole Board panel said that it had "serious doubts" about Razzell's honesty and that there was a "very significant" risk in the context of relationships, but said this was "not imminent".

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."

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Daughter says Razzell 'a danger'

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.

"We are not here to ask for the impossible. We are asking for a decision that takes seriously the ongoing harm to this family and the potential risk to others."

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) can refer a Parole Board's decision to release a prisoner to the High Court if it believes the release would undermine public confidence in the parole system, and the court must be satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public.

Matthew Stanbury, for Glyn Razzell, told the court: "There is no, or no sufficiently cogent, basis for departing from the panel's decision."

He said in written submissions that the Parole Board's decision was "detailed and thorough", and that the MoJ's case "comes close to treating denial as conclusive to risk".

At the end of the hearing, Judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said that she would give her decision "in a matter of weeks".

(c) Sky News 2026: Family say murderer who won't reveal location of wife's body should stay in jail