Escaped triple killer 'commits suicide'

A man who slaughtered his wife and her two children has been found dead after escaping from an open prison.

Martyn Hughes, 50, apparently committed suicide after going missing from Sudbury Prison, near Derby, at the weekend.

The family of his victims today said they were glad he was dead.

Hughes was just a year away from being released from a 13-year minimum sentence for the manslaughter of his wife and the murders of his stepsons.

Hughes, a former undertaker, strangled Deborah at the family home in Hemsby, Norfolk, before murdering stepsons James, seven, and six-year-old Matthew while they slept.

He then laid out the body of his Catholic wife and placed a string of rosary beads in her hands.

Desmond Sadler, Deborah's father, said he and his wife believed Hughes would not have been able to cope with life after being released from prison.

The couple feared he would then have come looking for them.

Mr Sadler, 67, a retired helicopter pilot, said he was still angry at Hughes's 13-year minimum jail term for the deaths of three innocent people and criticised the criminal justice system for primarily looking after the interests of criminals.

"Our worry has been all along, through his prison sentence, that he would have been released after 13 years, which was the tariff, which we consider hopelessly inadequate for three murders," he said from his home in Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk.

Deborah Brackhahn, the former wife of Hughes and stepsons Matthew (left) and James

"This means that my daughter and her two children, each of their lives was worth four years and four months in prison.

"The answer to the murders would have been his whole life in prison but that wasn't going to happen anyway because the system is geared up to looking after him, not us."

He went on: "We do consider him a cold-blooded killer and that is why we were worried he would do it again to us or somebody else.

"We were worried that when he came out, which would have been next July, that he wouldn't cope with life.

"He didn't cope with life very well even when he had a full-time job and a family when he was married to my daughter.

"He then had to find somebody to blame - which he took out on them by killing them.

"This doesn't close it because our daughter and grandchildren have died and they will never come back.

"This is not the end of it, it is something we will live with for the rest of our lives."

A manhunt was launched on Sunday after Hughes, a former undertaker, failed to return to the prison.

He was found dead in his car parked on a farm track near Belper, Derbyshire.

"At this time it would appear Mr Hughes committed suicide and there are believed to be no suspicious circumstances," said a police spokesman.

Hughes, then 38, was given three life sentences at Norwich Crown Court in July 1996.

He had denied murdering the boys on the grounds of dimished responsibility - but was found guilty of their murder and Deborah's manslaughter.

He had claimed to have a severe depressive illness which would have substantially impaired his responsibility for his actions.

Sudbury jail was at the centre of a political row earlier this year over the use of open prisons after 11 inmates went missing in the month of June alone.

A total of 78 prisoners absconded from Sudbury last year.

The record drew criticism from shadow home secretary David Davis, who accused ministers of putting the public in danger.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "The numbers of absconds from prisons is at its lowest level in the last 10 years, despite an increasing population.

"Open prisons are the most effective means of ensuring prisoners are tested in the community before they are released.

"To release prisoners directly from a closed prison without the resettlement benefits of the open estate would undoubtedly lead to higher levels of post-release re-offending."