Thomas Kelly's parents believed their son's killer had changed in jail. Now they say they would've never agreed to his parole if they weren't fed a 'pack of lies'

The parents of Thomas Kelly claim they were not aware of their son's killer's violent outbursts in prison before they gave their blessing for him to be paroled.

Kieran Loveridge is due to be released from prison within the next week after the NSW State Parole Authority (SPA) found there would be a 'substantially greater risk' if he was released at a later time. 

The now 30-year-old killed Mr Kelly, 18, in a 'cowardly and unprovoked' attack in July 2012, and two weeks ago Justice Geoffrey Bellew said the SPA was 'satisfied' it was in the community's interest to release Loveridge.

Mr Kelly's parents, Kathy and Ralph, supported the parole, but on Wednesday night they told ABC's 7.30 program that they did so based 'on a pack of lies' and that Loveridge had shown no remorse. 

At the April parole hearing, they learned Loveridge had repeatedly been violent during his years in prison, assaulting several people, including punching a bikie in the face.

In the most recent incident, just weeks before the parole hearing, Loveridge was drunk and violent towards corrections officers.

'It's hard to believe that the State Parole Authority think that he won't be a risk to the community, or a low risk, as they say,' Mr Kelly said.

'Given that he had an outburst on the 27th of February it shows that he is still the same person that he was 12 years ago.'

Ms Kelly said Loveridge 'was drunk in prison and was aggravated. We're talking a month-and-a-half ago. 

'And we weren't aware of that when we put the submission forward saying that we supported the parole. We were doing the right thing, as far as we were concerned.'

She said they only found out about the extent of Loveridge's behaviour in prison at the parole hearing 'as the judge was basically summing everything up'.

'It was disgusting,' Ms Kelly said.

'It was just appalling that that we've been kept in the dark about that, because we really went in with our submission and supported the parole on a pack of lies. 

'Had we known that, we definitely would not have supported it.' 

Mr Kelly believes 'it's only a matter of time' before Loveridge commits further crimes once he is given parole.

'He can't be watched 24 hours a day, and he will be drinking and he will become violent, and he will reoffend,' he said.

'There's no question of a doubt that when he touches alcohol, the violence, the aggravation comes out, the violence comes out, and it's uncontrollable.'

Kathy Kelly does not believe that Loveridge is sorry for killing her son.

'Absolutely not ... Of course, he hasn't been able to contact us, I understand that. But there are ways to reach out to the family and show that you are sorry.

'There has never been an apology for what he did. I don't believe there's ever been any remorse whatsoever.'

Ralph Kelly agreed, saying 'We know he's not sorry for killing Thomas. We got an apology note the day before the Supreme Court (case where Loveridge was convicted). 

'It wasn't written by him, it was written by someone in the legal profession and there was a squiggle at the bottom, which gave him 25 per cent (time) off right there, for putting his autograph on the letter.'

Ms Kelly said most people do not realise 'that the prisoners have access to (illegally) making alcohol and various things that aren't allowed in prison'.

'That was new to me, but apparently they do, and he was violent at that time. (That was) a month and a half ago and we weren't aware of that when we put the submission forward saying that we supported the parole.

'Had we known that, we definitely would not have supported it,' she said. 

Loveridge, who assaulted four others on the night he killed Thomas Kelly, initially got a sentence of just four years, but on appeal this was raised to a minimum of 10 years, and a maximum of 13 years and eight months.

When he was convicted, Thomas' brother Stewart made a heartbreaking statement outside the court. 

'I now no longer have an older brother. Instead I have a hole in my life that somehow I'm meant to come to terms with and accept,' he said. 

Stuart Kelly later took his own life.

'We lost our beautiful son ... four years later our other child Stewart took his own life as a result of the loss of his older brother,' Ms Kelly said after Loveridge's parole hearing. 

'He was only 14 years old when Tom was killed ... our family may never find forgiveness for Mr Loveridge.

'We continue to grieve every day for our two boys ... we have been handed a double life sentence.'

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