A RELATIVE of three children brutally murdered in Worcester has appealed for their killer never to be released - and has revealed the devastating impact of the crime on the family.

John Nicholls is the second cousin of young Paul Ralph and his sisters Dawn and Samantha, who were killed at a house in Gillam Street and then impaled on garden railings in 1973.

The killer of the youngsters, who were aged four-and-a-half, two and nine months respectively, is now being let out on unsupervised day visits in preparation for release from jail. But Mr Nicholls, who repeatedly refers to murderer David McGreavy as a 'monster', has urged prison officials to think again.

In a fax sent to the Worcester News from his home in Lyalta, Alberta, Canada, he described the torment the family had been through and the lasting repercussions of the crime.

He contacted the paper after we revealed on Tuesday January 3 how 54-year-old McGreavy had been seen sauntering along the streets of Liverpool on one of his jaunts.

Mr Nicholls said: "It was with shock and dismay that I opened the Worcester News to see the murderer of my cousin's children strolling nonchalantly down a street listening to music.

"This monster killed Dawn, Samantha and Paul in an extremely brutal and sadistic manner, before he impaled them on iron railings. He has served just 11 years for each child's life. Is this justice?

"These children's grandparents are now dead - this monster deprived them of all the hopes and expectations that grandchildren bring.

"My daughter is the same age as Dawn would have been and she has given us four grandchildren. This monster deprived the family of the joy we have experienced.

"Dawn, Samantha and Paul were not given the choice of growing older, of marriage, bearing children or watching their own children grow up.

"Why is this monster strolling the streets without a care in the world, why does he have people willing to take him into their home, to show compassion, and to nurture him, when he is the cause of our family not being able to do the same for these children?

"This monster not only slaughtered three children, he destroyed a marriage and affected the lives of the police who found their bodies.

"Considering the manner in which this monster took their lives, 'life' should mean the rest of his natural life.

"People say that time heals all wounds, but I can tell you that in this case there has never been enough time and there never will be."

David McGreavy, who was a lodger with the children's parents, Dorothy and Clive Ralph, was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. He has never explained his actions.