A man convicted of murdering two women in Cranbrook decades ago has applied for a supervised work release from a Mission correctional facility for up to 120 days.
According to Correctional Service Canada correspondence, a case preparation process is underway to develop potential supervised work release plans for Terry Burlingham.
Burlingham is currently serving a life sentence at Mission Institution for the murders of Denean Worms, 20, and Brenda Hughes, 16, which occurred a few months apart in Cranbrook in 1984.
The circumstances were similar in both cases — the victims were sexually assaulted and shot twice in the head at close range.
Burlingham was convicted of first-degree murder in 1985, but also later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1998 after the Supreme Court of Canada allowed an appeal for one of the cases and directed a new trial.
READ: Double-killer’s ‘sexual sadism’ worried parole officials last year, documents reveal
A conviction for first-degree murder is an automatic life sentence, with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Burlingham was also sentenced 10 years following his manslaughter guilty plea.
As part of the process in considering the work release application, the case preparation report will include information such as victim input, psychological assessments, professional appraisals of the inmate’s conduct while incarcerated and potential risk to the community if Burlingham was granted conditional release.
Prison authorities will make a decision on the work release application later in October.
Work releases are granted to “carefully selected” inmates to perform work and services such as painting, general repairs and maintenance of community centres or homes for the elderly.
Work releases are considered one of the first steps to gradually reintegrate inmates into society.
Burlingham was first granted “escorted temporary absences (ETA)” from the Mission Institution in 2019. An ETA is a release where an inmate leaves the institution accompanied by an escort, either alone or as a member of a group.
He has eight ETAs scheduled in October to Mission and the surrounding area.
He was denied day and full parole a year ago, as the Parole Board of Canada cited concerns with Burlingham being a high risk for another sexual offence, while acknowledging a need for gradual and incremental release.
Other concerns raised by the parole board noted he was not accepted into a community residential facility (halfway house), had no viable release plan and had no case management team to support a day or full parole release.
With files from Black Press Media