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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Marcello Mega & Iona Young

Sister of Midlothian murder victim killed by husband faces fresh ordeal amid freedom bid

The sister of a woman killed by her axe-wielding husband is facing a fresh ordeal as he attempts to get out of jail reports the Record.

Liz Martin wrote to the Parole Board in 2020 to explain the devastating impact the murder of Lillian Taylor, 43, by her husband Emrys Taylor had on her family.

They rejected his parole bid at that point after taking into account Liz’s harrowing letter – but now they are set to look at his freedom bid again.

Emrys, 78, murdered his wife on April 3, 2008, while Lillian was talking to her mum, Lena, on the phone. He used an axe he took from the garden shed.

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Taylor was sentenced to life imprisonment in September of that year but the punishment part of the sentence was set at just 12 years, six months, backdated to the day of the incident as he was remanded in custody after the brutal murder.

Once a lifer has served the minimum sentence set by the court, he is entitled to a parole hearing.

The board has now written to Liz again to say that Taylor will have another hearing, provisionally set for June.

She said: “I’m not sure how that fits in with the need for justice to be seen to be done but I don’t think I could bear to be in attendance and hear again the details of what he did to my sister.”

Liz has been told she is entitled to be at the hearing but must remain silent and must also sign a non- disclosure agreement.

Liz said she would refer the Parole Board to the letter she sent in 2020, as all that she said at the time was still relevant.

Taylor was 64 when he killed his wife and made an infamous 999 call, telling the operator: “I’ve just killed my wife. I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life.

"It doesn’t matter.

“I’ve f****** bashed her head in. There’s no need for an ambulance.

"Take her straight to the morgue.”

He admitted murdering his wife but claimed he had been driven to carry out the savage attack by his mother-in-law, Lena, who heard him strike the fatal blow and told husband Matthew: “He’s killed her.”

Taylor was jealous of Lillian’s devotion to her mum and dad, both now dead, and the fact she spent a lot of time caring for her mum and called her each night to check she was well.

Liz believes he remains a danger to the public and said: “I believe his crime was so sickening and so violent you have to assume he would always remain a danger.

“What he did literally killed my mother as well.

"She was 79 and not all that well, but with Lillian around she was happy and well-loved.

"She was just miserable and crying all the time and taking to her bed. It made it worse when he tried to claim our mum had driven him to it, which was cruel and malicious.

“He hated Mum because Lillian loved her so much, and he wanted to hurt her, which is why he killed her when they were talking.

“He wanted Mum to hear it.

"She said she’d never forget the gurgling sound that followed the blow.

"She just knew he’d killed her.

“She was totally consumed by grief and was dead within a year.”

The Parole Board would not comment on an individual case.

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