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John Massey |
Killer in plea to see sick mother
Man sent back to jail writes to Journal
A CONVICTED murderer from Kentish Town has written to the New Journal from Pentonville Prison on the eve of a hearing that could see him released after 34 years.
John Massey, who was sent back to jail after breaking the terms of his release in 2007, said the last two years he has spent waiting for a parole hearing have been the hardest he could remember.
He was released after serving a life sentence for the shotgun murder in the 1970s of a nightclub bouncer in Essex. Massey was sent to a halfway house in south London and told he must comply with a curfew to be home by 11pm. It was during this time that his father fell seriously ill in the Royal Free and died. Massey refused to leave his bedside and broke his curfew, leading to his recall.
The 65-year-old missed his father’s funeral and said he now fears for his mother who was taken seriously ill with pneumonia this week.
In a 10-page letter he said: “Two years after my father passed away I am still here in prison. Two years of my life I should have been devoting to my mother and long-suffering family.
“My dad had travelled the length and breadth of this country a thousand times in 30 years in order to visit me in various godforsaken and dingy prisons. I could not fail him or my mother. To do so would have buckled my shoulders with the guilt of unspeakable things to come.
“Now the parole board are saying ‘your father has gone now Mr Massey – but your mother is very ill, what if this were to happen again?”
Massey was due to have a parole hearing 28 days after his recall, but claims he has been waiting two years.
A spokesman for the Parole Board said it was “extremely” unusual for a hearing to be delayed for two years.
The spokesman added: “It is possible he has had one or two hearings and it maybe that because he broke his curfew that we have decided it is not right to put him back into the community.”
Massey’s hearing is scheduled for October 28 when he could be released and reunited with his family, who live in Castle Road, Kentish Town. |
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