EVER since we started reporting on preparations for the possible parole of triple child killer David McGreavy, the message from the people of Worcester has been clear: Don't let him out.

We'll never know what criteria the parole board used when they decided to keep him locked up, but we like to think that the opinions of the people in whose city he committed his horrific crimes carried some weight.

It has been more than 30 years since McGreavy murdered three children for whom he was babysitting and callously wedged their lifeless bodies in the railings in front of his Gillam Street lodgings.

But the horror of those events has reverberated down the years. In fact, for those who lived in the city in 1973, the shock and outrage has never really gone away.

That is why the people of this city cannot countenance seeing McGreavy walking the streets once more as a free man, whether he is deemed to be no longer a danger to children or not.

For that reason, if no other, the decision of the parole board was the right one.

Public opinion must be taken into account when determining how long those who have been convicted of heinous crimes should stay in jail.

Sometimes, as with Moors murderer Myra Hindley, feelings run so high that any release is unlikely.

Perhaps when a few more years have elapsed, the people of Worcester will judge that McGreavy has paid for the crimes that are still so fresh in so many memories.

But that time has certainly not arrived yet.