Parole board rejects appeal of man who killed B.C. family

A man serving a life sentence in an Alberta prison for murdering six members of a family in B.C. has lost his bid to reverse a decision that denied him parole.

The National Parole Board's appeal division released its decision Monday on the case of David Ennis, who was known as David Shearing at the time of the 1982 slayings near Clearwater, B.C.

The written decision says Ennis appealed on the basis the decision to deny him parole was "unfair, unreasonable and based on fabricated information." But the appeal division ruled that the parole hearing was fair and said Ennis didn't raise any points that gave any grounds for it to intervene.

Ennis, 49, was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years, a period that expired in mid-November 2008. His first attempt at parole was denied by a three-member panel at an emotional hearing in October at the Bowden Institution in central Alberta.

Ennis pleaded guilty to the murders in 1983.

Bob and Jackie Johnson, their daughters Janet, 13, and Karen, 11, and Jackie's parents, George and Edith Bentley, were found dead after they failed to return from a camping trip near Clearwater. Shearing shot the adults and allegedly held the girls captive for several days while he sexually assaulted them. He then put the bodies in the family car and set it on fire on a remote logging road.