Dangerous offender William Shrubsall denied parole

One of the most dangerous people to ever walk the streets of Halifax has been denied parole.

William Chandler Shrubsall was declared a dangerous offender in 2001 after a series of violent attacks on women. The designation means his sentence is indefinite, although it is subject to periodic reviews. One of those reviews was held earlier this month.

In denying his release from prison, the Parole Board of Canada cited a report a psychologist prepared on Shrubsall in September.

"Your risk for sexual recidivism is in the high range," the board quoted the psychologist as saying.

"He concluded that, given these risk levels, your history and your attitude, he would not support a full parole for deportation release at this time. He added that it would be in the best interest of public safety that you remain incarcerated in a medium security facility."

Violent criminal history

Shrubsall has a long and violent criminal history.

In June 1988, when he was 17, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter for beating his mother to death with a baseball bat in their home in Niagara Falls, N.Y. He claimed his mother had abused him.

In 1995, following his release from a U.S. prison, Shrubsall was accused of sexually abusing a woman and a 17-year-old girl in two separate incidents.

But before the jury came back with its guilty verdict, Shrubsall disappeared, leaving behind a suicide note. He was sentenced to up to seven years in prison; a sentence he has yet to serve.

Dangerous offender designation 

Shrubsall resurfaced in Nova Scotia where he resumed his criminal behaviour with a string of aggravated sexual assaults and robberies.

In February 1998, he severely beat a clerk in a Halifax waterfront store. Three months later, he beat, robbed and sexually assaulted a 21-year-old student in a south-end Halifax driveway. And in June 1998, he choked and confined a 26-year-old woman.

The violent attacks led to the dangerous offender designation.

"You remain a medium-security offender with a moderate escape risk rating and a high public safety rating," the parole board noted in its review this month.

While in prison, Shrubsall legally changed his name to Ethan Simon Templar MacLeod.

He is currently held in Ontario. If he is ever released, he will be deported to the United States to serve his sentence for the 1995 sexual abuse case.