David McGreavy: child killer to be released from prison

The killer responsible for the notorious 1970s murder of three young siblings in Worcester is to be released on parole after more than 40 years behind bars.

David McGreavy, now 67, was dubbed the Monster of Worcester and the Friday the 13th Killer for the gruesome attack, in which he impaled the bodies of his victims - all under the age of five - on the railings of a garden fence.

Now, prison officials say he no longer presents a significant risk to society.

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On 13 April 1973, McGreavy was 21 years old and living as a lodger with his friend Clive Ralph, Ralph’s wife Elsie and the couple’s three children: four-year-old Paul, two-year-old Dawn and nine-month-old Samantha.

He had already babysat for the Ralphs on multiple occasions when he was asked to watch the three siblings while Clive went to pick up his wife from her job as a barmaid.

When the couple returned at around midnight, they found the house in disarray, blood everywhere, and no sign of their children or McGreavy.

An hour after police arrived on the scene, an officer made a horrifying discovery: “the bodies of the three children impaled on some metal-spiked garden railings between gardens”, the Worcester News reports.

Paul had been strangled with a wire, Dawn’s throat had been cut, and baby Samantha had died from a blow to the head.

Two hours later, police located McGreavy, who had been drinking heavily in the hours before the crime. He initially denied harming the children but later confessed, telling detectives he snapped after he could not get Samantha to stop crying.

McGreavy pleaded guilty to murder, and was given three life sentences and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years.

However, after 45 years behind bars, his application for parole has been approved, Sky News reports.

“He has developed self-control, as well as a considerable understanding of the problems that he has had and what caused them,” according to a Parole Board report.

“The psychologist identified a number of factors which make it less likely that Mr McGreavy will reoffend in future. These included his improved self-control and the fact that Mr McGreavy has learnt to remain calm in stressful situations.”

However, the children’s mother, who divorced their father after the ordeal, told The Sun that she felt betrayed by the decision.

“He put my babies on spikes for God’s sake - he mutilated them and they died in agony,” she said. “I was told he’d never go free.”