Linda Razzell’s former boyfriend has told her killer he must show remorse if he wants to be freed.

Greg Worrall’s comments came as Glyn Razzell, sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars for murdering the mum-of-four in 2002, mounted a bid to be released on licence as early as next month.

The 60-year-old has a Parole Board hearing on May 12, which will decide whether he still poses a risk to the public or if he can be freed on licence. The board’s decision will be known later in May.

Mr Worrall, who still lives in Highworth, told the Adver last night: “He’s never shown any remorse, which is a criteria for parole. If he wants to show remorse he’s got to stop saying he didn’t do it, turn up a body and allow her children a funeral.”

He said keeping the killer in prison could save lives. “Not because he is a danger but because it would make others think. Jail has got to be a deterrent,” he said.

The 61-year-old, who was in his early 40s when Linda disappeared, said they had planned to marry as soon as she had divorced Razzell. She was wearing his engagement ring when she disappeared.

“She was lovely,” he said. “We both had bad relationships before and we agreed there was no love without respect.

“We’d written out our vows. It would be ‘love, honour and respect’. There’s no honour without respect and Razzell never respected women.”

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Linda Razzell

The Parole Board will tell Razzell by May 22 whether he will be granted parole. A spokesman said: “The panel will carefully look at a whole range of evidence, including details of the original case, and any evidence of behaviour change. We do that with great care and public safety is our number one priority.”

MPs are currently debating a Bill, known as Helen's Law, that would make it a statutory requirement for the Parole Board to take into account whether murderers applying to be released on licence have revealed where there victims' remains were left. While the draft law has made it passed the House of Commons, it is not clear if it will be signed into law before Razzell's case is heard by the Board.

The murder that shocked a community

The murder of Linda Razzell stunned the community. Highworth mayor Coun Julia Bishop told the Adver: “People were really shocked. Linda was very well-known and she had four lovely children. There was an air of complete shock.”

The mum-of-four was last seen parking her car in Old Walcot on the morning of March 19, 2002, having dropped off her children at school in Highworth and her then boyfriend at work.

A search of Razzell’s borrowed car showed a significant quantity of blood in the boot, which matched his estranged wife’s.

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Glyn Razzell, pictured in 2003

Over an 18-month investigation, detectives spoke to 2,600 people, followed up more than 2,200 lines of enquiry and took 1,540 statements.

Det Chief Insp Paul Granger, who led the team that brought Razzell to justice, told the Adver after the trial: “I don’t think Razzell will tell us where the body is - and if he does it will not be for a long time.

“He is an evil, cold, calculated and intelligent man, but he made mistakes and that is how he ended up getting caught.”

Timeline of a case

In November 2003 a Bristol jury took six hours to find Razzell guilty of murdering his wife. The former investment manager at Zurich showed no emotion as the foreman delivered the guilty verdict.

Over the 31-day trial the court heard the couple had been through an acrimonious divorce. At around the time Linda went missing, Swindon County Court had indicated she would receive the marital home in Pentylands Close, Highworth, and a £30,000 lump sum.

In February 2002, Razzell had been acquitted by a Swindon Crown Court jury of a charge of wounding. He denied repeatedly hitting his wife’s head against a window at the home they shared.

A month later, she was missing.

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Bristol Crown Court, where Razzell was tried

On the morning of March 19, Linda left her home with her children and boyfriend Greg Worrall. She dropped off her boyfriend at work and her children at school before parking her red Ford Escort in Alvescot Road, Old Walcot, and walked towards Swindon College, where she worked as a learning assistant. She never made it to the college.

In the days after her disappearance, police searched a red Renault Laguna, which Razzell had borrowed as he loaned a friend his Ford Galaxy for a day trip to France. Forensics officers found blood stains in the boot and in a footwell in the car.

Jurors were told Razzell had made throwaway comments to a friend about disposing of a body in quicksand near Cotswold Water Park and had discussed the financial benefits of killing his wife. He had started a new relationship with Wiltshire woman Rachel Smith.

Put in the witness stand, he claimed he did not know who had killed his wife and said he had only discussed with friends murdering his wife in jest.

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Greg Worrall, photographed by the Adver at the time of the case

Cross-examining Razzell, prosecutor Michael Parroy QC: “I suggest you killed your wife for the two oldest reasons there are - money and a younger woman who you were in love with. That’s right isn’t it?” The man in the witness stand replied: “No, that is not right.”

During the trial it was claimed Linda Razzell had been seen since her disappearance. However, her bank account has not been accessed since.

Sentencing Razzell to life imprisonment, Justice Pitchers said: “You have deprived four young children, whom you should have loved and protected, of their mother. This is as dreadful a loss as can be imagined.”

He has repeatedly appealed his conviction. In 2018, he appeared on BBC miscarriage of justice programme Convicted in an effort to prove his innocence. He refused to take a lie detector test when asked to by the programme makers.

Last year, Wiltshire Police and a team of forensic archaeologists spent several days digging in Pentylands Country Park. The search proved fruitless.

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Police and archaeologists at Pentylands Country Park in 2019 Picture: CALYX