Grandson says that wife-killer Causley should stay in prison
A MAN who killed his wife then faked his own death off Guernsey should not be freed, his grandson has said.
Russell Causley murdered Carole Packman in 1985 and evaded justice for a decade. He has never revealed where he put her body.
Grandson Neil Gillingham has urged the Parole Board, who will announce a decision in a fortnight, not to release him.
He told the BBC his family has been ‘tortured’ by the killer’s continued refusal to reveal what he did with his victim’s remains.
Mr Gillingham said Causley’s efforts to change his story continually proved he was ‘still wicked and arrogant’.
‘We do not believe that his mentality has sufficiently changed as such that he will never be tempted to act or behave in the similar manner that imprisoned him all those years ago,’ said Mr Gillingham.
‘We have a genuine fear that Russell Causley poses a significant risk to our family’s safety.’
He added: ‘[Causley] should have been honest, he should’ve finally ended years of suffering and should have provided closure when that is the logical, human and decent thing to do given the serious nature of his offences and his continued plight for reintegration into society. Russell hasn’t done any of this – he hasn’t been honest, he hasn’t ended years of suffering.’
Following a hearing in 2018, the Parole Board recommended Causley be moved to an open prison but this was blocked by the Justice secretary.
Causley was first jailed for a life insurance scam and later found guilty of murdering his wife.
The story began back in October 1993 when Jersey Marine Radio received a call from the 41ft yacht, L’Etalon Noir, claiming that Causley, one of its four crew, had fallen overboard.
But Inspector Phil Falla had his suspicions. The Guernsey Police officer later discovered that Causley had taken out an £800,000 insurance policy just prior to his ‘death’ and the fraud was eventually discovered after his mistress, Patricia, tried to get the cash.
The woman, who is 17 years Causley’s junior, had moved into the family home at Bournemouth as a guest about a year before his first wife disappeared in mysterious circumstances.
In 1985, Sam Packman, then 16, found her mother’s wedding ring on top of a note on the sideboard saying she had left and wanted nothing more to do with her family. Causley, who later changed his name from Packman to that of his mistress, told his daughter that her mother had run off with a German with a Porsche.
Miss Packman spent the next eight years trying to trace her.
Jailed for the insurance scam after being found in a Brighton guest house, Causley began boasting to fellow inmates about how he had committed the perfect crime against his wife.
A fellow prisoner gave evidence that Causley had said he had given his wife a shot of gas, put a plastic bag over her head, and dissolved her body in acid.
Causley was first convicted of the murder in December 1996 but the Court of Appeal quashed this in June 2003. In April 2004, he was again found guilty at retrial at Exeter Crown Court.
