A man found guilty of murdering his estranged wife has maintained his innocence and refused to reveal where her body is during a public parole hearing.

Glyn Razzell, 64, was convicted of the murder of his wife, Linda Razzell, 41, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003.

Mother-of-four Mrs Razzell disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College, Wiltshire, in March 2002 and no trace of her body has ever been found

Razzell became the first prisoner to be refused parole under the so-called Helen’s Law in 2021, which aims to make it harder for killers to get parole if they refuse to reveal where they hid their victim’s body.

In a new hearing on Thursday, Razzell told a panel of three parole judges he could not say where his wife’s remains were as he does not even know if she is dead.

He also said his wife must have been involved in planting her own blood in the car he borrowed on the day of her disappearance but insisted he was not “victim blaming”.

He said: “I don’t know where Linda’s remains are. I don’t know if she is dead for sure. I am sorry if that upsets people.

“I understand the anguish my children (feel) in particular. I understand the way they feel, if there was anything I could do to help with that, I really would, particularly for my children.

“I don’t know where the remains are. I don’t even know if she is dead.”

I don’t feel guilt for it because it is not caused by me but I do feel their pain and their suffering and I carry that too

The Parole Board hearing is only the third to be open to the press and public. It was held at the open prison where Razzell is serving his sentence with a livestream being relayed to a public gallery at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Razzell wished not to be seen on video but could be heard.

Asked about bloodstains matching his wife’s DNA being found in the boot of the car, Razzell said: “I think that it (the blood) wasn’t in the car when I had the car.”

He pointed to the fact that the vehicle had been examined three times, but no blood was found until the third examination.

He said the blood was “placed there to incriminate me” and, when asked who by, added: “It must have been with Linda’s involvement because it was fresh blood. So, I suspect it wasn’t Linda herself, I suspect it was someone co-operating with her.”

When told that “even at this stage, you are victim-blaming Linda Razzell for her involvement”, he said: “I am not victim-blaming. I am saying she was alive the week after she disappeared because it was fresh blood.”

Asked three times whether he killed his wife, he told the Parole Board panel each time: “I didn’t kill Linda Razzell.”

Discussing his plans for the future if the panel decides he can be safely released, Razzell said he would try and locate his wife, saying: “I don’t know where she is and I would like to try and find out.”

Razzell said there is “absolutely no risk” of him being violent “in any way” in the present or future, and when asked if he feels guilt about the psychological harm caused to his children, he said: “I don’t feel guilt for it because it is not caused by me but I do feel their pain and their suffering and I carry that too.”

The second part of the hearing is due on Friday but it will be closed to the public.

A decision on whether Razzell, who was recommended to serve a minimum term of 16 years in jail, will be released is expected within two weeks.

The panel will consider his evidence, testimony from probation officials and more than 1,000 pages of information including victim-impact statements before making their decision.

It is the third time the Parole Board has considered his case.

In October 2021, he was refused parole under the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Act 2020, which was dubbed Helen’s Law after insurance clerk Helen McCourt, who vanished on her way home from work in 1988.

It places a statutory duty on parole board panels to consider the non-disclosure of information as part of its decision on whether to release prisoners.

Razzell and his wife were embroiled in divorce proceedings when she went missing and his trial was told he faced a financial settlement he was not prepared to accept.

The court also heard that Mrs Razzell left her home in the village of Highworth, near Swindon, at 8.45am on March 19 with her children and boyfriend, Greg Worrall.

She dropped Mr Worrall off in Highworth and her children at school before being seen parking for work in Alvescot Road, as usual.

She is believed to have taken her usual route down an alleyway towards the college and her phone was found in a recess of the alleyway the next day during a police search.

Her boyfriend contacted police on the evening of her disappearance after she failed to pick up her children from their after-school club.