MISSION, B.C. – Day parole has been granted to an Alberta man who took nine people hostage at gunpoint in a Workers’ Compensation Board office in downtown Edmonton.
The Parole Board has approved the release of 44-year-old Patrick Clayton to an aboriginal-focused substance abuse treatment centre in British Columbia.
Clayton, whose WCB claim involved a knee injury, has served nearly four years of his six-year, 10-month sentence at the medium-security Mission Institution, where the board made its decision.
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Board member Maryam Majedi says Clayton’s offence in October 2009 put many people in danger, but he has made positive changes since then.
READ MORE: Edmonton WCB hostage taker says he was a prisoner of corporate bullying
Clayton told the hearing that he stormed the office in a cry for help after his young son asked to move in with him but he realized he was living in a “crack shack.”
He surrendered to police 10 hours after herding people into a conference room with a hunting rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition.
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