Murderer escapes jail as sufferer’s household warns he ‘may kill one other lady’
The brother of Nichola Dickson, who was brutally murdered in 2003 by her boyfriend David McCord, has warned he could kill ‘another woman’ after failings by prison officials
Nichola Dickson was tragically killed by her former boyfriend
The brother of a young woman murdered in Northern Ireland has warned that his sister’s killer could strike again as a result of failings by the country’s prison system.
Nichola Dickson was murdered in 2003 by her then boyfriend David McCord. The 26-year-old woman was strangled and stabbed to death at home by McCord, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eleven years behind bars.
Over 20 years on from his sister’s tragic death, Nichola’s brother Gareth Smyth has hit out at officials and revealed that he received a call from probation officers telling them that his sibling’s murderer is under review for release on the same day he reportedly escaped from an open prison.
McCord had been released in 2014 without the family’s knowledge, although he returned to prison shortly after for reportedly breaching his licence conditions, according to the Belfast Telegraph. He has since been released and re-imprisoned multiple times, something Gareth describes as “disgraceful”.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, he said: ““Every single time he’s been released he has failed — and failed drastically at times, as we’ve seen with him going on the run. In some cases he’s assaulted another woman.”
Gareth described the troubling impact the murder and the subsequent releases has had on his family, saying: “My dad has never ever recovered from it. His health deteriorated and he turned to drink for a long time… he’s just a shell of the man he was.”
The releases had left Gareth’s grandmother terrified. He explained: “Every time he’s been released, it’s failed, sometimes badly.
“He’s even gone on the run. When he did, my granny — God rest her — was waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares, thinking he was standing in her bedroom.”
Gareth said he was contacted by the Probation Board regarding a new review into McCord despite having previously been told the case was not due to be reconsidered for another year.
He explained: “They told me they start the process six months prior… but to me, the guy’s meant to be getting punished. If it takes six months to do the review, that’s not our problem. He’s the one in jail.”
When asked by the Belfast Telegraph if McCord still posed a risk, Gareth’s answer was chilling, saying: “100% — he could very well kill another woman.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
