Paedophile who killed schoolboy Wesley Neailey denied prison release
Arthur's Hill schoolboy was found dead four weeks after leaving home on his bike in 1998
by Sophie Doughty · ChronicleLiveEvil child killer Dominic McKilligan must stay behind bars after his latest bid for freedom failed.
McKilligan was jailed for life after he was convicted of killing 11-year-old Wesley Neailey who vanished after going out on his bike in Newcastle in 1998. The paedophile has made a number of applications for parole since the 20-year minimum term of his prison sentence ended in 2018.
But after a hearing last month a panel of the Parole Board has once again refused his release. The panel also refused to recommend that McKilligan be moved to a lower security open prison.
A spokesman for the Parole Board said: "We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Dominic McKilligan following an oral hearing. The panel also refused to recommend a move to open prison. 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."
Wesley disappeared after leaving his home, on Croydon Road in Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle, on June 5, 1998. At first his mum Liz thought her son might have just met up with some friends and lost track of time. But as darkness fell Liz began to fear the worst.
Wesley was initially treated as a missing person by police and Newcastle's West End community, who knew the schoolboy well, came together to search for him. Posters were put up in the windows of homes and shops as our sister paper, the Sunday Sun, staged a reconstruction of Wesley’s last movements. But it would later be revealed that all efforts were in vain, as Wesley was dead within hours of disappearing.
Detectives began to focus their attentions on McKilligan, an 18-year-old convicted sex offender from Bournemouth who had been housed in Newcastle after being held at Aycliffe Young People’s Centre in Durham. When officers searched his flat on Fenham’s Wingrove Road they found a torn up cheque for £150 made out to Wesley. Four weeks after Wesley vanished McKilligan took police to a remote spot in Healey, in the Tyne Valley, where he had dumped Wesley’s body.
A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found McKilligan, then 18, guilty of murder and rape at the end of a three-week trial. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years. However, McKilligan later successfully appealed his rape conviction meaning he will not be on the sex offenders’ register if he is released.
Liz has always believed McKilligan should never be freed and would be a danger to children if he was let out. And last month she told the Chronicle of her fears over his release.
The 59-year-old said: "I'm just hoping they don't let him out. I'm just hoping they make the right decision. I know the prisons are full, but they should keep child killers in for definite. I just want to protect other people's children.
"I couldn't protect Wesley but if I can protect anyone else I will. I just want to warn people. If I could find out what he looked like I would I would plaster his face all over the place. I would say; 'This is the person who killed my son'."
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