Carl Currey, aged 60, a convicted murderer who has twice absconded from custody—including an escape during which he fled abroad and murdered a pensioner—has failed in a formal legal challenge against a Parole Board decision refusing him release on licence.
Currey’s history of absconding dates back to 2004. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for wounding with intent when he was taken on an escorted day trip to an aquarium in Plymouth. Currey slipped away from custody when his sole escort left him unsupervised to use the toilet.
Having escaped, Currey used false passports and various aliases to flee the United Kingdom, travelling through the Netherlands and Thailand before arriving in southern Spain. While residing in Torremolinos, Currey worked alongside 70-year-old Jon Harris, an acquaintance of his father. Mr Harris was subsequently discovered dead inside his apartment. Following a 10-month manhunt by Spanish authorities, Currey was arrested. Despite denying the killing, he was convicted of murder by a Spanish court in 2008 and sentenced to 12 years and six months’ imprisonment, with an additional consecutive one-year sentence imposed for attacking a fellow prisoner while in custody.
Currey was repatriated to the British prison estate in 2014 to continue serving his life sentence. Despite his history of overseas flight and murder, prison authorities subsequently categorised him for open conditions and transferred him to HMP Standford Hill on the Isle of Sheppey.
In January 2022, Currey was granted four days’ release on temporary licence (ROTL). He departed the prison on 7 January with instructions to return on 11 January, but failed to do so. Telephone tracing attempts proved unsuccessful, leaving Currey unlawfully at large for 10 months.
His recapture occurred by chance on 10 November 2022, when Sussex Police officers attending an address in Bexhill-on-Sea on an unrelated matter discovered Currey asleep on a sofa. Identity documents bearing a different name were recovered at the scene. Currey entered a guilty plea to remaining unlawfully at large and was handed an additional 12-month consecutive prison sentence.
Currey subsequently lodged a formal challenge against a Parole Board decision that refused to direct his release, arguing that he had committed no violent acts since 2011 and that administrative delays had disrupted his psychological assessments.
Patrick Thomas KC, determining the review on behalf of the Parole Board, rejected the application, noting that Currey’s arguments could not extinguish the risk demonstrated by two separate escapes from custody and a murder committed while evading justice. Currey remains detained in closed prison conditions.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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