Yahoo News Teen killer who brutally murdered gran and dumped her body in canal released from jail
A woman who brutally murdered a 71-year-old grandmother in Oldham has been released from prison.
Sarah Davey is now back on the streets, 26 years after the horrific murder of Lily Lilley, 71, in Failsworth in 1998. Davey, who was aged just 14 at the time, and her 15-year-old pal Lisa Healey befriended the gran-of-three before she invited them into her home on West Street.
The pair then brutally tortured Lily by squirting shampoo in her eyes, cutting her with a knife and tying a gag round her mouth so tightly that her dentures were forced down her throat. They then crammed her lifeless body into a bin and walked it through the streets of Failsworth before throwing it in the Rochdale Canal.
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After killing her, they made hundreds of calls from her phone and used her pension money to buy crisps and chocolate. Davey was handed an indeterminate sentence by a judge in 1999.
The judge described the murder as 'unspeakably wicked'. Now, aged in her late 30s, Davey is back on the streets after being released from prison.
She was released from jail on March 23 this year after a decision by the Parole Board, according to reports. She will be subject to strict conditions, the Manchester Evening News understands.
Since March 2013, Davey was 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.
She moved back to Greater Manchester - and was living just two miles from the scene of the killing. But that same year she was put back behind bars after testing positive for using cocaine, breaching the terms of her licence.
Each time she was released from prison after that, she was recalled for breaching the terms of her licence. In 2022, the Parole Board rejected Davey's release for an eighth time.
At a hearing, it was revealed that she had the opioid painkiller subutex in her system. On Davey's release earlier this year, the Parole Board said she was allowed out following an oral hearing.
In full, a spokesperson for the board said in a statement: "We can confirm that 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.
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