From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released.
[JOCELYN]
Bob Dylan wrote that song in 1968, the same year Gavin Parrie was born. He was the second of three Parrie boys, sandwiched between the oldest, Neil, and the youngest, Robert (who the family called Bobby). His mother worked part-time as a shelf-stacker in a local supermarket, and his father, Vernon, was employed at what was then the British Leyland car plant in Cowley, on the outskirts of Oxford. The family lived in a small terraced house off the Cowley Road, and all three boys attended the local primary school, and then Temple Green Secondary Modern.
Ken Waring was Gavin’s form teacher in his first year at Temple Green.
[KEN WARING]
‘He was a bit of a tearaway, there’s no getting away from that. Always getting into scrapes. But I never thought he was a bad lad. He struggled with his reading, but looking back with the benefit of hindsight I suspect he may have been dyslexic. But of course, back then, you didn’t get assessed for things like that, and you didn’t get any extra help either. Kids like him often became disruptive just because they were having trouble keeping up. He was good with his hands, though, I remember that – he always got good marks in Woodwork and Metalwork. I guess I assumed he would follow his father into the car industry. That’s what the majority of our lads did.’
[JOCELYN]
By 1984 the family had moved to Manchester. Vernon Parrie had been made redundant from Cowley, but managed to secure another job at a truck assembly plant up north. It came at a bad time for Gavin, who as we’ve heard, was already finding schoolwork difficult. The transition to a new school proved a challenge too far, and Gavin left the education system that summer with no formal qualifications.
He spent the next two years moving from job to job – some office cleaning, some mini-cabbing, the odd stint labouring alongside his brother Bobby, who was an apprentice plasterer by then. Remember that – it’s going to be important later.
It was around this time that Gavin first met the woman who would become his wife. Sandra Powell was 16 and photos of her in the family album show a typical fun-loving 80s teenager. Big shoulder pads, a big smile and big hair. Really big hair.
[SANDRA]
‘I know, I know, but we all had perms like that back then. My mum used to do mine in the back kitchen.’
[SOUND OF PAGE TURNING]
‘I can’t even remember the last time I looked at these. And I definitely can’t believe I wore all this stuff – look at those legwarmers – what were we even thinking?’
[JOCELYN]
That’s Sandra. As you can tell from her voice, there’s still some of that bright, sassy teenager left in her, though the intervening years have taken a heavy toll. She lives in Scotland now, and has reverted to using her maiden name (we’ll hear why in a later episode), but through it all, she’s remained in contact with Gavin and has always been a firm believer in his innocence. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Back to 1986.
[SANDRA]
[SOUND OF PAGE TURNING]
‘Ah, I love that one – that’s me and Gav at Blackpool a couple of weeks after we first started going out.’
[JOCELYN]
It’s a sweet picture, and not just because they’re both clutching candyfloss. Gavin has a shy smile and a mullet haircut that makes him look a bit like David Cassidy. Sandra is acting up for the camera, and even though she’s two years younger she looks a lot more worldly, a lot more mature. And according to Sandra, that’s a pretty accurate reflection of the early days of their relationship.
[SANDRA]
‘It took Gav a long time to adjust to moving to Manchester. He’d left all his mates behind in Cowley, and I think he resented that a bit. He didn’t get along that well with his dad either, so I think he was quite lonely. I was definitely his first serious girlfriend, that I do know. He really wasn’t that confident back then – it took him so long to ask me out I was beginning to think he wasn’t interested.’
[JOCELYN]
But once their relationship started, things moved very fast. Within three months Sandra was pregnant, and by the end of that year they were the parents of a baby girl, Dawn.
[DAWN MACLEAN]
‘What’s my first memory of Dad? Probably him teaching me to ride my bike when I was about 6.’
[JOCELYN]
That’s Dawn. She’s a qualified beautician now, married and living in Stirling with two children of her own.
[DAWN]
‘I got the bike for my birthday, and I remember it absolutely poured down all day – you know what Manchester’s like – but he spent hours outside with me in the rain while I wobbled up and down. He wasn’t always that patient though. I remember he hated anything to do with paperwork or filling in forms – Mum always had to deal with Social Services or the council or our schools. I guess he was always a bit wary of people like that. People in authority. He said they were all out to get you. And let’s face it, he wasn’t wrong, was he?’
[JOCELYN]
Sandra and Gavin had two further children in the next ten years. Sandra had a job as a hairdresser but Gavin was still stuck with casual labouring jobs, so money was tight, and they couldn’t get by without benefits. After a while, the strain began to tell.
[DAWN]
‘By the time I was about 11 I knew my dad was struggling. I mean, I wouldn’t have used that word, but I knew he wasn’t happy. He seemed to be angry all the time, and I think he was drinking, and that just made him even more angry. And sad. I remember finding him in tears one day, upstairs in their bedroom. It was the first time I’d ever seen a man cry and it really scared me.
