Southampton wife killer David Gibson could be moved to open prison

David Gibson is serving life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Belinda at their Southampton home in February 2002. 

A court heard how, along with his father Leslie, he suffocated his 32-year-old wife at their Purvis Gardens home because he was having an affair. 

Her body was then stripped and stored in the garden shed before being transferred to an inflatable boat and dumped in the Solent near The Needles, off the Isle of Wight.

At a parole hearing on August 8, the panel said it was not satisfied that Gibson's release would be safe for the protection of the public. 

Belinda Gibson (Image: Supplied)

Instead, it said that the process of moving him to an open prison should be progressed. 

It considered his development in custody including a number of completed training courses, the recent completion of an accredited programme and his overall compliance. 

In papers released from the hearing, it said: "Having considered the index offences, relevant patterns of previous offending and the other evidence before it, the panel listed as risk factors those influences which made it more likely that Mr Gibson would reoffend.

"At the time of his offending, these risk factors had included accepting that violence, including violence against a partner, was acceptable.

"Mr Gibson had experienced difficulties in managing extremes of emotion, including feelings of anger.

"He had felt out of control at times and had been negatively influenced by other people.

"The panel had the benefit of a victim personal statement which clearly conveyed the impact of Mr Gibson’s crimes and the consequences of his offending.

"After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the other evidence presented at the hearing and in the dossier, the panel was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public."

How the Echo reported the case in 2004 (Image: Newsquest)

The Secretary of State will now have to decide whether she accepts the Parole Board’s recommendation to move Gibson though she can only do this if he is assessed to be at low risk of absconding.

Gibson, now 53, was given a minimum term of 18 years, nine months and one day after a six-week trial at Winchester Crown Court in 2004 alongside his father. 

Three days after jurors returned their verdicts the former martial arts instructor confessed to dumping her body but continued to deny any involvement in her death.

The court decided his father, a retired dock worker of Mortimer Road, Woolston, should stay in prison for at least ten years and nine months.

It was the second time Gibson had been before the parole board since he first became eligible to be considered for release in April 2023.

At the hearing oral evidence was given by his probation officer, the official supervising his case in prison and a psychologist employed by the prison service as well as Gibson himself.