A child killer who hung the mutilated bodies of his three young victims on a fence outside their home will soon be released from prison.

David McGreavy killed Paul Ralph, four, and his sisters Dawn, two and Samantha, nine months, while staying as a lodger in their Worcester home in the 1970s.

Paul had been strangled, Dawn was found with her throat cut, and Samantha died from a compound fracture to the skull.

Parole Board members believe triple child killer David McGreavy is no longer a ‘significant risk’ (Picture: Mercury)

Their tiny bodies were then impaled on the spiked garden railings of their home.


McGreavy, a family friend who had been staying with the children and their mother, Eslie Urry, in Gillam Street, Rainbow Hill, was sentenced to life for the murders in 1973.



He had claimed he killed the children because one of them wouldn’t stop crying.

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More than 40 years on it has been revealed that McGreavy has been cleared for release by the Parole Board following an oral hearing.

Elsie told The Sun: ‘What this animal did to my children was every bit as bad as what the Moors Murderers did.

‘But Ian Brady and Myra Hindley never left prison before they died so why the hell should he?

Mother Eslie Urry – also known as Dorothy Ralph – with her children, murdered by David McGreavy

David McGreavy at 21 when he was jailed for life for the killings (Picture: PA)

‘He put my babies on spikes for God’s sake – he mutilated them and they died in agony.

‘I wanted him dead and to -suffer like they had but was reassured after his trial that his crime was so terrible he would never walk free again.

‘But despite begging them to keep him locked up, I have now finally been betrayed.’

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A document from the Parole Board about McGreavy’s case referred to a victim personal statement from the children’s mother, ‘setting out the devastating effect that these deaths had on her and still do have’.

During his 45 years in jail, the killer has changed ‘considerably’, the document found.

‘He has developed self-control, as well as a considerable understanding of the problems that he has had and what caused them,’ the Parole Board said.

There were ‘a number of factors’ which make it less likely he will reoffend, a psychologist found.

Improved self-control and remaining calm in stressful situations were two of the factors identified, the document said.

The board added: ‘He has also shown himself to be compliant and co-operative with authority, which suggests that he will comply with licence conditions.

The children had their throats had been cut and their bodies impaled on railings by lodger David McGreavy (Picture: PA)

The house in Gillam Street, Worcester where the children had been murdered, mutilated and impaled on fence (Picture: PA)

‘A network of supportive friends in the community was also identified as a protective factor.’

It confirmed that it has directed McGreavy’s release.

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‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on whether a prisoner would represent a significant risk to the public after release,’ the board said.

‘The panel will have carefully looked at a whole range of evidence, including details of the original evidence and any evidence of behaviour change.

‘We do that with great care and public safety is our number one priority.’

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