A killer whose gang murdered a teenage girl by dousing her in petrol and burning her in a forest will soon be freed from prison. Glyn Powell, 58, was accompanied by another three people when he kidnapped and tortured Suzanne Capper before taking her to a forest and burning her in 1992.
But 31 years later the parole board has now directed that Powell should be released. Suzanne, 16, from Moston in Manchester, was injected with drugs before being subjected to brutal torture for a whole week at a house in the city. She was then driven to woods in nearby Stockport where she was burned alive, but she survived long enough to name her killers which eventually saw them jailed.
After a trial in November 1993 Powell, then 29, was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for the murder of Suzanne. Also jailed for murder were accomplices Jean Powell (now Gillespie), Bernadette McNeilly, and Anthony Dudson. Dudson was just 16 at the time.
All of the killers except Glyn Powell have since been released. But now he is also to be released, Manchester Evening News reports. A spokesman for the parole board said: “We can confirm that a panel of the parole board has directed the release of Glyn Powell following an oral hearing. Parole board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
"A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims. Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
"Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing. It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority."
Suzanne knew her killers and had even looked after Jean Powell’s three children. At trial each defendant gave conflicting motives for the killing, including an argument over a coat.
In December 1992 Jean Powell and Bernadette McNeilly lured Suzanne from her father’s home to their house at Langworthy Road in Manchester. Following a row over the duffel coat the pair, alongside Glyn Powell and Anthony Dudson, began to torture her, including by shaving her head and eyebrows, pulling her teeth out with pliers and injecting her with amphetamines. The next day she was moved to another house in the street and the appalling physical abuse continued after she was tied to an upturned bed.
For decades since Suzanne's death her mother Elizabeth Dunbar and Manchester MP, Graham Stringer, have campaigned to oppose any applications by the killers for parole, but three were released and only Powell remained in prison. McNeilly was paroled in 2015 after having her 25-year sentence cut by one year. Dudson was released in 2013. In 2017 Gillespie was released. A parole board spokesperson said of Gillespie: "She got a 24-year sentence and spent one year on remand so from sentencing, 23 years. Her tariff expired in 2016."
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