The Ministry of Justice is seeking to reverse the Parole Board's decision to release Glyn Razzell, who was jailed for a minimum of 16 years in 2003 for the murder of his estranged wife, Linda Razzell. Linda Razzell disappeared in March 2002 on her way to work at Swindon College, Wiltshire, and her body has never been found.
The ministry argues that the Parole Board failed to properly consider Razzell's risk to the public and that his release undermines public confidence in the justice system. The High Court is hearing the challenge, with Razzell himself attending the hearing to oppose the move to keep him incarcerated.
Linda Razzell was in the process of divorcing her husband and had become engaged to another man, Greg Worrall, at the time of her disappearance. Police found a significant amount of her blood in the boot of a car driven by Razzell following her vanishing. A jury found Razzell guilty of murder in November 2003. He has consistently maintained his innocence and has appealed his conviction multiple times.
Family members have expressed distress over Razzell's release, which occurred in April. Julie Westmore, Linda Razzell's cousin, told the High Court that if Razzell is released without revealing the location of her remains, the family will lose all hope of finding her body and will lose trust in the justice system. She described Razzell as a "master manipulator" and stated the family "would not feel safe" if he were free, knowing him to be "a violent man and an accomplished liar."
Westmore added that keeping Razzell in prison could serve as the "incentive he needs to eventually do the right thing." The family believes that Razzell's release "would quite simply be wrong."
The Parole Board's decision to release Razzell was made in consideration of Helen's Law, legislation enacted to make it more difficult for killers to receive parole if they have not revealed the location of their victims' bodies. The law is named after Helen McCourt, who was murdered in 1988 and whose killer was released without disclosing her body's whereabouts.
However, Tristan Jones KC, representing the Ministry of Justice, argued that Razzell has "not been honest or transparent" and is a "deeply deceitful individual" who carried out a "campaign of violence" against his wife, culminating in her murder. Jones stated that Razzell's proposed licence conditions could not fully address the risks he poses, adding that Razzell's attachment to his "narrative of innocence" inflicts pain on victims.
In April, the Parole Board panel acknowledged "serious doubts" about Razzell's honesty and a "very serious risk" within future relationships, though it deemed the risk "not imminent." The panel concluded he would comply with licence conditions due to a strong motivation to avoid returning to custody.
Matthew Stanbury, representing Razzell, contended that the Parole Board's decision was "detailed and thorough" and that the Ministry of Justice's argument "comes close to treating denial as conclusive to risk." He asserted that Razzell's continued denial of his wife's murder should not be a barrier to his release, given the Parole Board's assessment that there was "no… basis" for overruling their decision.
Police conducted searches for Linda Razzell's body in 2019 near her former home in Wiltshire, following a tip-off, but found nothing. Glyn Razzell is now 67 years old.