Eddie Gilfoyle has been released from prison after almost two decades behind bars for the murder of his heavily pregnant wife on condition that he does not comment on the case.
Eddie Gilfoyle who was jailed for 25 years at Liverpool Crown Court in July 1993 after being found guilty of killing his wife Photo: PABy Andrew Hough 7:00AM GMT 23 Dec 2010
The 59 year-old was released from Sudbury open jail, Derbyshire after being granted parole on his first application.
It is understood he was released following a parole hearing in the past few days, where officials stipulated he must not contact the media either himself or through a third party.
Gilfoyle was jailed for 25 years at Liverpool Crown Court in July 1993 after being found guilty of killing his Paula Gilfoyle, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.
The 32 year-old was found hanging in the garage next to the couple's home in Upton, Wirral, in June 1992.
Detectives believed Gilfoyle fooled his wife, 32, into writing a suicide note and somehow persuaded her to climb a ladder with a noose around her neck.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for her murder and had lost two appeals against his conviction.
After his release Gilfoyle released a simple statement which read: “I am not able to provide a response because the Parole Board has imposed a condition on my life licence that prohibits me contacting the media either directly or indirectly whether this is regarding my release or my appeal.
“This is a matter that I will be challenging through the courts but until that time I cannot comment.”
His lawyers plan to appeal the gagging order, The Times reported.
Last year new evidence was unearthed which cast doubt on his historic murder. Police notes from the time surfaced suggested that Gilfoyle was at work when his wife died.
The Times claimed it obtained notes of interviews with the officers called to the house on the day that she died.
They stated the doctor who declared Mrs Gilfoyle dead told police that she had died six hours earlier – when her hospital porter husband was at work.
The notes were not shown to the jury nor mentioned during Gilfoyle's trial in 1993.
Merseyside Police have also repeatedly denied that they existed.
At the trial, prosecutors insisted that Gilfoyle had tricked his wife into writing her suicide letter, then coaxed her into the garage where he hanged her.
Police became suspicious when Mrs Gilfoyle's family and friends described how happy she had been before her death.
But according to the newly-discovered notes, nothing at the scene suggested foul play or a struggle and her body had no marks or defensive injuries.
Nor did a doctor who examined her raise any suspicions.
Comment: This is a turn up for the books. Although there is no legal authority for the Parole Board not to direct the release of a prisoner who proclaims innocence, it is very, very unusual for the Parole Board in practice to actually direct release and even more unusual for this to occur on the first hearing.
I would question the lawful authority for the Parole Board to have put a life licence condition upon him which stipulates he must not contact the media either himself or through a third party. This clearly is in breach of his Article 10 of the Convention human right to freedom of expression. It is also in breach of one of my cases allowing prisoners to speak to the media by phone.
Law Report: Hirst v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] EWHC 602 (Admin)(22nd March, 2002)
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