Parole Board blasted over child-killer error

David McGreavy was jailed for life in 1973 for murdering three children he was baby-sitting in Worcester and impaling their bodies onto metal railings.

While on a Parole Board rehabilitation placement from Ford Prison last year, McGreavy worked in an administrative role at the offices of the Council for Voluntary Service Arunwide, at Dove Lodge, Beach Road, Littlehampton.

At the time, a Surestart toy library was operating in the same building but McGreavy was not in contact with the children.

The toy library has since relocated to the Wickbourne Centre in Clun Road, Littlehampton.

Jim Sewell, chairman of the Council for Voluntary Service Arunwide, said his organisation had given administrative work to prisoners from Ford for the last 18 years.

Some, like McGreavy, were category one prisoners but they were allowed to work at Dove Lodge only under a strict condition barring prisoners with serious offences relating to children.

In preparation for his release from Ford, McGreavy was allowed to leave the prison unsupervised, a common practice for prisoners coming to the end of a life sentence.

The Parole Board stopped McGreavy's work placement at Dove Lodge after a national newspaper ran a story about the unsupervised outings.

Mr Sewell said: "Until we saw the article in the newspaper, we were totally unaware of what he (McGreavy] had done. We were never told what crimes the prisoners had committed.

"All the prisoners who have worked at Dove Lodge over the years have been closely supervised.

"This man did not cause us any problems."

Since the incident happened, no more prisoners have worked at Dove Lodge after a change in administration at the building meant they were no longer needed.

Home Office spokesman Richard Walberton said: "In this situation, having been fully risk-assessed, Mr McGreavy was deemed suitable for an outside work placement.

"But his licence terms specifically prohibited unsupervised contact with anyone under 18."

No one was available for comment at the Parole Board.

A spokesman for Surestart said all children using the toy library had been supervised at all times.