Parole denied for seventh time over 1995 murder

A convicted killer who murdered a woman whose body has never been found has had his latest bid for parole rejected.

Peter Turner was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 after he was found guilty of murdering 26-year-old Teresa Shephard, from Sheffield, who went missing in June 1995.

Last month, police excavated an area of land off Piper Lane in Aston, Rotherham, in search of Teresa's body, but later confirmed nothing had been found.

Ruling on Turner's seventh bid for release, the Parole Board said it was "not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public".

Teresa was last seen by her grandmother when she went to pick up washing at the beginning of June 1995.

On the day of her disappearance, she told friends she was catching a tram to a nearby shopping centre to meet a man for a picnic in some fields and was never seen again.

The Parole Board heard how Teresa had been in a relationship with Turner, which had ended in the summer of 1994.

Turner, from Worksop, "became obsessed" with [her] seeing other men," the panel was told.

Using false details, he arranged to view a house being sold by Teresa's new partner and struck him on the head with a hammer, fracturing his skull.

Teresa was due to give evidence against Turner at trial for the grievous bodily harm (GBH) offence, but disappeared shortly before the hearing.

"It is said that Mr Turner murdered the victim and then disposed of her body because she was going to give evidence against him in the trial," the panel said.

The parole hearing was told Turner, now 54, maintained his innocence over the offence of murder.

He had admitted causing GBH for the hammer offence, "albeit on the basis that it was in self-defence".

"Turner has failed to disclose the location of the victim's body, on the basis that he did not kill her and that he has no information that would assist in this respect," the panel heard.

The panel said Turner denied being violent towards Teresa and denied having any knowledge about the location of her body.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years for murder and seven years for GBH, to be served concurrently.

Turner had spent an additional 13 years in prison "for the protection of the public", the board was told.

Although his behaviour in prison had been "exemplary for many years", the panel said Turner's continued denials and lack of disclosure had limited opportunities "to fully understand the circumstances surrounding the offence and to identify all relevant risk factors".

They said his risk factors included his use of violence and a willingness to carry weapons, problems in intimate relationships and poor decision making.

A previous professional assessment had identified "a lack of empathy, a lack of remorse or guilt and conning and manipulative behaviour".

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