An infamous killer is again seeking release from prison after submitting a second bid for a parole hearing. A parole board hearing will take place in February to decide whether or not prisoner, Craig Belcher, will be discharged after he was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in 1999 for the murder of civilian police worker, Kirsty Carver.
Belcher brutally murdered the 22 year old in a horrific hammer attack in Willerby, in 1998, Hull Live reports. Belcher was unsuccessful in a similar bid for freedom two years ago but as a result was moved to an open prison.
He will meet with the parole board for a second time to find out if he qualifies for release. A spokesman for the Parole Board said: “An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Craig Belcher and is scheduled to take place in February 2023.
“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 including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.
“The prisoner and witnesses are then 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.” Kirsty’s death became one of East Yorkshire’s most notorious crimes of the past 20 years or more.
Belcher beat Kirsty Carver to death with a hammer at a petrol station in Willerby in March 1998. Detectives launched a desperate search for the 22-year-old, which saw more than 3,500 people involved, after she went missing.
Kirsty’s Toyota Celica was discovered, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition on a quiet farm track near Willerby. After more than a month of searching, her body was eventually found in the undergrowth, off an equally quiet road near Spurn Point.
Petrol station attendant Belcher, then 24, would later go on trial and be convicted of the murder. He was handed a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 18 years.
The parole board confirmed in October 2019 that Belcher was now eligible for parole. Kirsty, who worked at Queens Gardens police station, city centre, disappeared on March 5, 1998, after leaving a friend's house in Wold Road at 1.40am.
She went to the petrol station in Willerby and it was there Belcher murdered her. Blood was later found in a back room.
Kirsty's parents Vanessa and Arthur made a number of emotional appeals for information and Vanessa wrote a heartfelt open letter in the Mail, calling in vain for her daughter's safe return. The public's determination to help find Kirsty was never more evident than during a mass search, when about 3,500 people met at the Humber Bridge to help scour hundreds of square miles of land.
Police dogs and handlers discovered Kirsty's half-buried body during a search with the Army at isolated Spurn Point just over a month after her abandoned car was found. Belcher, who had been serving a life sentence at Frankland Prison in Durham before his move, has never given any explanation for the killing.
He has also refused to admit guilt, despite his absurd and contradictory version of events being discredited during his trial at Sheffield Crown Court. To this day, Kirsty's family do not know what led to her death.
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