Killer who tortured gran before dumping dead body in canal freed from jail

A killer who murdered a grandmother and dumped her body in a canal has been freed from jail. Sarah Davey is back on the streets more than two decades after her horrific killing.

She was 14 when she murdered 71-year-old Lily Lilley in 1998. She carried out her crime alongside 15-year-old friend Lisa Healey.

They befriended the grandmother-of-three, who invited the pair into her home in 1998. They then brutally tortured their victim - squirting shampoo in her eyes, slashing her with a knife and tying a gag around her mouth so tightly her dentures were forced down her throat.

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The schoolgirls then shoved her lifeless body into a bin, walking it through the streets before throwing it into the Rochdale Canal. Hundreds of calls from the victim's mobile phone were made by the pair after their killing, Manchester Evening News reports.

They even used her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate following the murder in West Street, Failsworth, Oldham. A judge described the murder as 'unspeakably wicked'.

Davey was handed an indeterminate sentence in 1999. Now in her late 30s, she was released from prison on March 23 following a decision by the Parole Board. She will be subject to strict conditions, it was understood.

Since March 2013, Davey has been released from prison on licence seven times. In 2013, she was freed from Askham Grange women’s prison near York after serving 14 years behind bars.

The convict moved back to Greater Manchester and was living just two miles from the scene of the killing. But later that year she was jailed again after testing positive for using cocaine - breaching the terms of her licence.

Each time she has been released from prison since then, she has been recalled for breaching the terms of her licence. In 2022, the Parole Board rejected Davey's release for an eighth time.

A previous hearing was told she had the opioid painkiller subutex in her system. The Parole Board said Davey was released earlier this year following a hearing.

A spokesperson said: "We can confirm a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Sarah Davey following an oral hearing. 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 such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing. It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be 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."

Healey was released from prison in 2009 shortly after having a child behind bars. She was provided with a new identity.