William Kelvin Fox: Murderer has parole bid rescinded after campaign by woman he shot in the head
A murderer who was about to be released into the southeast Queensland community in a matter of days has had his parole revoked following a campaign by one of his victims – a woman who was shot in the head by him but lived to tell the tale.
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A MURDERER who was about to be released from jail next week, after 22 years behind bars, has had his parole revoked.
The Queensland Parole Board this week overturned its decision to allow William Kelvin Fox, who is serving two life sentences, to be released on parole on Monday.
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The late decision follows a campaign by one of Fox’s victims, Basia Hellwich, who was shot in the head by Fox while holding her son, Bodein, 2, to stop his release.
Fox, 69, was jailed in 1998 for murdering his ex-wife, Patricia Atkinson, near Gympie in 1996 and the 1992 Gold Coast attempted murder of Ms Hellwich, whom he shot three times.
“I cried with relief, happiness and joy,” Ms Hellwich, 58, said, after learning that Fox was not to be released.
“It was some of the best news I have heard in my life.”
Ms Hellwich was shocked when Fox successfully appealed his last rejected parole application and she learned he was to be released on June 29.
“I had to do something to protect myself, my family and the community, to stop this becoming a reality,” Ms Hellwich said.
She believes her last-minute appeal to the board, outlining Fox’s lengthy criminal history, media attention, after a Sunday Mail story, may have made the Parole Board reconsider his release.
The Corrective Services Victims’ Register also helped her get her sincere concerns, that Fox was too dangerous to be released, before the board.
Fox shot Ms Hellwich, then 30, with a rifle at close range, in the face, head and armpit, even pointing the gun at her son.
Fox had come after his ex-partner, Ms Hellwich’s son’s grandmother, Colleen King, who had left him and was visiting Ms Hellwich.
Fox was on the run for years, after he shot Ms Hellwich. She still has a bullet in her head.
“I had to hide and live like a criminal, a scared rabbit, moving time after time,” she said. “I feel safer now. I don’t have to worry where he is,” Ms Hellwich said.
Fox was to have been released into the Caboolture community.
Former Queensland Law Society president, Bill Potts, said it was rare for parole to be revoked so close to a prisoner’s release.