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A former police officer convicted of murdering his girlfriend in North Vancouver 30 years ago, then killing another partner on Vancouver Island three years later, has been denied parole.
The Parole Board of Canada denied a request for day parole by Brock Graham on Sept. 21, 2023.
The decision came after Graham applied for day parole in March and a parole board hearing was held in August of this year.
In denying Graham day parole, the board stated in its written decision that his risk “would be undue and would not be manageable in the community.”
A psychological test in June of 2023 put Graham at a low to low-moderate risk to re-offend, but at a high risk for violence in the context of a relationship.
Graham, a former Vancouver Police Department officer, is serving a life sentence for killing his 34-year-old girlfriend Lynn Duggan in her North Vancouver apartment in 1993 by hitting her in the head with a hammer multiple times.
He later loaded her body into the trunk of his car and drove out to the area now known as the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, where he covered her body with dirt and leaves before driving home to Surrey. Although Graham was always a suspect, he provided an alibi and the crime scene had been cleaned up, the decision noted.
Three years later, Graham killed his common-law wife Patricia Ducharme, a mother of four children. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Duggan’s murder remained unsolved until Duggan’s brother Brad visited Graham in jail and eventually got him to confess.
That confession came 12 years after Duggan was killed and just months before he would have been eligible for parole on Ducharme’s murder.
Graham was born in North Vancouver and worked with the VPD until 1990, later joining the transit police.
In 2005 he was sentenced to life in prison for Duggan’s murder, with no eligibility for parole for 10 years.
The Correctional Service of Canada recommended granting Graham day parole with conditions that he abstain from drugs and alcohol and report any relationships he is involved in.
The parole board noted Graham, now 63, has completed programs while in jail, but noted his attitude to women remains a concern and he had failed to address how he would handle high-risk situations, like a relationship breakdown.
The decision noted Graham has had two relationships with women while incarcerated, but those “did not progress to private family visits.”
Statements from Duggan’s family considered in the decision “are very compelling and convey the immense anguish and loss they have suffered,” the board wrote.
Graham has been denied day parole twice before – once in February of 2021, which was confirmed on appeal in August of that year, and again in July of 2022.
He has, however, been granted numerous escorted temporary absences from jail, as well as a recent 60-day un-escorted temporary absence during which he was living at a halfway house in Ontario while taking a violence prevention program offered by the Salvation Army.
“It is noteworthy that you came into your federal sentence with significant dishonesty, having committed a previous murder that you did not take responsibility for and maintaining that stance for 12 years,” the board stated in its decision. “You committed very serious crimes, causing at separate times, the untimely deaths of two of your partners and you have impacted not only the deceased victims but a wide spectrum of people as well, including their families, loved ones and wider community. Committing such crimes against persons you claimed to love shows the presence of a deeper affinity for cruel behaviour and not surprisingly, you remain rated as a high risk for partner violence.”
