Hopeful speculation - assessing risk after Domestic Homicide

What happens when a risk plan depends on the honesty of the person

it is meant to manage? Catherine Razzell was 13 when her father, Glyn Razzell, murdered her mother, Linda, in2002. He has never said where her body is and still denies the murder. The Parole Board directed his release in April 2026, on the basis that his risk could be managed in the community. In August 2026, in the first substantive hearing of its kind, the High Court quashed that decision. The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb DBE, found the release plan “relies on trust that has not been earned”, and that the evidence of all but one witness “contained a degree of hopeful speculation”. Catherine faced her father in court to explain what his crime has done to her family. She will share what it has meant for them as children and as adults, where she feels the system has added to the harm, and what the judgment means for public protection

Questions we will explore:

How should risk be assessed and managed in cases involving patterns of coercive and deceptive behaviour?

What does good behaviour in custody tell us about the risk posed in intimate relationships?

What weight should Helen’s Law carry, and what does this judgment tell us about its significance?

How is the harm caused to victims taken into account, and what does the process expect of them and their families?