One of Britain's longest serving prisoners is still too dangerous to be freed - more than 45 years after two mothers were tied up and killed in the "Boarded Barn" murders. Philip Jennings, now 71, has served nearly five decades in prison after admitting he was part of a gang which killed two women, Ann Carryer and Elizabeth Blood, both 39, in November 1979.
The victims were found naked, bound and gagged in separate bedrooms at a luxury mansion known as Boarded Barn Cottage. Jennings, who was just 26 when he was jailed, has spent his entire adult life in prison and is now 16 years post tariff.
Parole board concerns
Parole Board documents reveal experts are "unanimous in their opinion that [Jennings] risk could not be managed in the community or in open conditions". It has emerged that he is taking medication for his "mental stability" and it was concerned his risk "in less secure conditions would increase".
Refusing an application to overturn a decision refusing his release, Patrick Thomas KC said: "Even in secure conditions, where there is significant monitoring, an earlier decline in his mental health had been overlooked, and his behaviour had deteriorated, with the result that there had been several instances of violence in 2025."
Details of the murders
Mother-of-two Ann and Elizabeth, who had three children, had gone to the isolated Tudor mansion Boarded Barn in Cheshire on November 5, 1979, to empty the property after the death of Ann's mother. The women had driven to the house separately, and it was Elizabeth's birthday. But the meeting cost them their lives.
Jennings, along with Stephen Anderson and Paul Hebel, also known as Spider, had been told someone in Scholar Green, Congleton, was incredibly wealthy and had bought the property. So - in a plot masterminded by Jennings - they intended to rob this new owner of £50,00, by kidnapping their son, or even better a female member of his family.
They hired a car and drove to the house that afternoon but encountered the two innocent women. The three tormented the pair, forcing them to dance naked for them before Elizabeth had to watch - at gunpoint - as Jennings raped her friend. The trio then took each woman into a separate bedroom where they bound them to a bed and shot them in the head.
Investigation and sentencing
The three men eventually admitted murdering the two women and were sentenced to 30 years in prison. All three were weight-lifters and known in the area for causing trouble. After the two bodies were found, police initially had no leads. It was described by police at the time as "cold blooded, brutal, macabre."
One theory was that it was antique thieves who had murdered the two women out of sheer frustration because there were no valuable items left. But, about 100 miles away in Huddersfield, an investigation into the theft of lead from a roof which had been stripped helped solve the killings. As they searched for the culprit, they were looking for people who had brought in a large amount of lead. They contacted local dealers and they gave officers details that would lead them to a car, which was traced to a house.
It was only when this house was searched and to the surprise of police a sawn off shotgun was found beneath the bed. The man said this belonged to Anderson. Officers tracked down Anderson, a known petty criminal and trouble maker, who told them he was with his girlfriend. Police then brought in Anderson's girlfriend, who finally after questioning said two of his friends had killed the two women in Cheshire.
Hebel, who lived with his parents, was in bed when he was arrested. Jennings was later found in bed with a girlfriend. Jennings was said to be the more intelligent of the trio and came up with the plan after reading about a man who was wealthy in Congleton. He was known by the nickname Bouncer and as a child sung in the church choir and was a member of Boys Brigade. But once he started body building he developed an obsession, regularly giving up jobs to train in the gym.
There were crowds outside the Magistrate's Court on the day the trio were due to appear before judges. When Jennings and Hebel left the court, they stuck their fingers up at the camera. Jennings told police who arrested him: "Some people murder thousands. We are only talking about two women. One was a raver. It's the little people, the nobodies like me who are always wrong. They are always the same, these so-called society people, They have money and everything and they can do no wrong."
A few months later the trio appeared at Chester Crown Court - the same place where the Moors Murderers had appeared. The three admitted murder, with Jennings also confessing to raping Ann minutes before shooting her in the head with a shotgun. Mr Justice Phillips branded the trio "cruel, brutal, pitiless". They were sentenced to 30 years, the same as the Great Train Robbers.
But hours after being sentenced, Anderson killed himself at Risley Remand Centre after setting light to a mattress in his cell and inhaling the toxic fumes from it. Anderson was a national under 23 world-lifting champion and a known womaniser, nicknamed "Puss" by the women he used to entertain. He used to hold wild parties at his home, attracting girls and boys - some as young as 10. But he was also known to be unpredictable, often flying into drunken rages and being described by his ex-wife Hilary as "like the Incredible Hulk." He boasted that his idol was the Black Panther.
