Kevin Thomas Parle

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

merseyside-police

Missing From:

Liverpool, England

Summary:

Kevin Thomas Parle is a fugitive wanted by Merseyside Police in connection with two murders in Liverpool: 16-year-old Liam Kelly in June 2004 and 22-year-old Lucy Hargreaves in August 2005. Known by the nickname 'Hemp', Parle fled after the 2005 murder and has evaded capture for over 20 years despite international manhunts. He is now in his mid-40s and considered one of Britain's most wanted fugitives.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On June 19, 2004, in the early hours of the morning, 16-year-old Liam Kelly was shot in the chest and arm on Grafton Street in the Dingle area of Liverpool after being driven there at 2am to meet an associate. Officers believe he was approached by two armed men from different directions. Kelly was shot at close range with a shotgun as he tried to run away and attempted to enter a house. He died at the scene from his chest wound. On August 3, 2005, three masked men burst into the home of 22-year-old Lucy Hargreaves on Lambourne Road in Walton, Liverpool, where she was asleep on the sofa. Within seconds she was shot three times with a sawn-off shotgun at close range. The men then poured petrol around the living room, hallway, and bottom of the stairs, setting the house alight despite the cries of her two-year-old daughter upstairs. Her partner Gary Campbell and their daughter escaped by jumping from an upstairs window.

Additional Details:

After Liam Kelly's murder in 2004, Kevin Parle was arrested along with others including Anthony Campbell and Peter Sinclair. A woman provided an alibi for Parle and he was released on police bail, but he failed to return to answer bail. Anthony Campbell admitted his part in Kelly's murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Peter Sinclair was convicted of assisting an offender after helping Parle destroy mobile phones and clothing. The woman who provided Parle's false alibi was convicted of perverting the course of justice. Two men, Kirk Bradley and Tony Downes, stood trial in 2007 for Lucy Hargreaves' murder at Liverpool Crown Court, but the case was dismissed midway through when the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence, and they were acquitted. Parle was named by police as a wanted suspect throughout. The Lucy Hargreaves murder was believed to have been a revenge attack on her partner Gary Campbell, allegedly related to a 1993 incident in which Campbell had allegedly been a passenger in a stolen vehicle that killed a four-year-old boy. Since 2005, Parle has remained on the run. There have been reported sightings of him in Spain (particularly the Torrevieja area of Costa Blanca), Australia (Perth, Western Australia), Portugal, Dubai, and Thailand, but no confirmed sightings or substantial leads have emerged. A former police officer reported seeing Parle driving a Landrover Discovery in Northern England that crashed and drove erratically. Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has been conducting a private investigation into the case since 2019, publishing a book titled 'Manhunt' and launching a podcast called 'Manhunt: Finding Kevin Parle'. In August 2025, Crimestoppers increased the reward to £10,000 for information leading to Parle's arrest.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 21, 2026