'As long as dad hides mum's body, he should not be released'

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A woman sits looking at the camera with her chin resting on her balled fists. She is slightly smiling. She has curly dark brown hair and is wearing a dark green jumper. Behind her is a stone wall with some green plants growing out of it and behind that is a white house.

ByWill GlennonReporting fromWiltshireMadeleine Ware and Sarah TurnnidgeWest of England

"We would like to be able to lay her to rest, to give her the dignity she deserves - and to finally be able to say 'this is over'."

Cat Razzell is speaking about her mother, Linda, who disappeared on her way to work in Swindon in March 2002 when Cat was just 13.

Linda was in the process of divorcing Cat's father, Glyn Razzell, who was later convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison.

He has never revealed what happened to Linda and no trace of her has ever been found.

For almost a quarter of a century her family have been left without answers, unable to grieve properly or even hold a funeral.

The case is now under renewed scrutiny after the Parole Board decided in April that he could be released. That decision has since been referred to the High Court, with a two-day hearing held on Monday and Tuesday.

Cat believes her father should not be released until he admits what he did and reveals where her mother's body is.

A head and shoulders image of Cat Razzell. She is looking directly at the camera. Her dark hair is tied back off her face. She is wearing a cream broderie top and dangly earrings. Behind her, slightly blurred, is a room - possibly a kitchen..

She told BBC News they have no wish for him to die behind bars but they do not think he should be released until he admits what he did to their mother - and tells them where her body is.

"As long has he refuses to admit what he did to her, and by association what he's done to us, the impact of that crime continues," she said.

"We don't believe that somebody who is willing to do that deserves release."

A woman sits on a chair surrounded by her four children. The woman is smiling at the camera. The four children are all looking off camera. The youngest sits on her knee.

Linda was 41 when she disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College.

The alarm was raised when she failed to collect her youngest two children from an after-school club at the end of a working day.

Linda and Razzell were in the midst of getting a divorce at the time and Linda had visited a local bank with a court order to freeze his accounts the week before she disappeared.

While her body was never found, police did uncover forensic evidence - including traces of her blood - in the boot of a car Cat's father had used.

Cat said she has many happy memories of a mother who she described as an "amazingly warm-hearted and generous" person.

"She would always go the extra mile," she said.

"She made me my own fancy dress costumes and she would always make our birthday cakes for us.

"[She was] just a considerate and warm person."

Linda smiles on a sofa while holding her baby daughter Cat. She has dark hair and wears a white and blue cardigan. Cat wears a white jumper, red shorts and long blue socks.

Losing not just one parent, but two, was "traumatic" for Cat and her three younger siblings, leaving them "so bewildered" by what had happened, she said.

"When you're a young child what you need is your parents to be able to tell you that things are all right," she said.

"When it's a situation that your own father that has caused, it's incredibly hard to get your head around.

"I spent a long time trying to understand it and a long time not thinking about it because it was too difficult."

Cat said that while many teenagers shun spending time with their parents, she knows first-hand how lonely it is to not have your parents around.

She said she and her siblings felt "so much unhappiness" during the important life stages that followed her mother's disappearance and her father's conviction.

"Everything becomes tainted with the loss," she said.

"Weddings... there's a conspicuous absence there, graduations - those big events.

"But also, just day to day, just to have that easy thing of going over to your parents' house for dinner.

"It's a very, very noticeable absence for all of us and it's difficult."

Razzell leaving court sat in a car and wearing dark glasses. He is looking straight ahead and not smiling.

During this week's hearing, prosecutor Tristan Jones KC said Razzell - who is currently in an open prison - had been "compliant with conditions" and had engaged in 20 sessions with a psychologist.

But he also described Razzell as a "deeply deceitful individual" who carried out a "campaign of violence" against Linda.

The court heard evidence from a domestic abuse report Linda made to police before her death, which showed she feared he would kill her.

Razzell was tried and acquitted of two counts of domestic abuse a few months before he killed Linda but a Parole Board hearing in 2023 concluded on the balance of probabilities that he was abusive.

When the Parole Board approved Razzell's release in April, they said in a statement that the "panel was satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public".

The High Court hearing has now concluded that judges will not issue their decision immediately, with the final judgment expected in the coming weeks.

Additional reporting by Kaushal Menon Muralidharan.