Craig Munro, who’s serving a life sentence for killing a Toronto police officer during a botched robbery 30 years ago, was granted limited unescorted absences from prison this week.
The 58-year-old shot Const. Michael Sweet during a tavern robbery on March 14, 1980. As Munro and his brother negotiated their surrender with police during a 90-minute stand-off, he refused to allow medical help for the officer, who bled to death.
Sweet’s widow and children provided victim impact statements at Tuesday’s National Parole Board hearing in British Columbia. OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, who investigated the murder, joined the family.
The panel concluded that Munro has made progress in taking responsibility for his actions and granted him a limited number of unescorted absences to Kelowna.
Munro was hoping to receive day parole, but was once again denied by the panel who said he’s still at a moderate risk to re-offend.
"I take responsibility for the choices I made back then," Munro told the hearing. "But I had a severe drinking problem."
Sweet’s family is pushing for changes to Corrections Canada’s privacy rules which prevent them from seeing all reports and assessments of Munro.
