A PAROLE hearing for a handyman who murdered four people has been adjourned.

George Francis Stephenson’s hearing was scheduled to conclude on Thursday, November 30 after a two-day hearing, but this was adjourned.

An oral hearing is now listed for Friday, December 29.

Stephenson was given a mandatory life sentence aged 36 in 1987, after he was convicted of murdering two men and two women, raping another woman, and robbery.

He killed husband and wife Joseph and Hilda Cleaver, their son Tom and family nurse Margaret Murphy at Burgate House in Fordingbridge in September 1986.

One of Stephenson’s co-defendants was convicted for the murder of Tom Cleaver’s wife, Wendy, but he was cleared of this charge.

Stephenson became eligible for parole in 2021, having served his minimum term of 35 years imprisonment.

A hearing was previously started by the Parole Board in May 2022, but it was adjourned.

In February 2023, victims of the crime, supported by then-justice secretary Dominic Raab, had requested for the hearing to be heard in public, but this request was refused.

The request was opposed by Stephenson, who made submissions through his legal team.

Parole Board chair Caroline Corby said at the time that the applicants had made ‘strong arguments’ due to the ‘terrible’ impact on them and their ‘desire to see justice done’.

But she said a ‘high bar’ had been set for parole hearings to be heard in public in the interests of justice, concluding that this was not met in Stephenson’s case.

Ms Corby said that the victims had ‘her deepest sympathies’.

She added that a detailed decision summary would satisfy the requirements of transparency.

Stephenson was tried along with brothers George and John Daly, in a trial that lasted three weeks.

John Daly was given a life sentence after he was convicted of the same offences at Stephenson, while George Daly was cleared of murder, but sentenced to 22 years in prison for rape, robbery and manslaughter.

The decision summary is expected to be released within 14 days of the conclusion of the hearing.