The Parole Board of Canada has extended day parole for a man serving a life sentence for murdering a University of Victoria student 38 years ago.
Scott Ian MacKay, 62, was granted another six months under continuing special conditions, including abstaining from using drugs and alcohol, abiding by strict curfews, not possessing pornography and not owning or operating a vehicle.
MacKay was initially granted day parole in February 2024 and again the following September.
His victim, Marguerite Telesford, was 20 when she went out for an early-morning run on Jan. 18, 1987 and never returned.
She was a pianist who was studying to become a teacher at the time of her murder. Her bloody earmuffs were discovered on Mount Douglas Cross Road, along with a series of bloodstains, some hair, a spent shotgun shell and a pry bar.
Telesford’s body has never been found.
Evidence at his trial indicated that MacKay, who had a history of violent assaults on women, accosted Telesford as she ran. When she rebuffed him, MacKay drove over her and then shot her, the Crown said.
MacKay maintained his innocence through the trial, but was convicted in 1989 of first-degree murder, which was reduced to second-degree murder on appeal. He was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for 15 years. He applied for and was denied parole in 2004, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2021.
MacKay eventually accepted responsibility for Telesford’s murder, but maintains he has no memory of murdering her and does not know the location of her remains.
According to documents from the parole board, MacKay is to continue living in an undisclosed community residential facility in the Lower Mainland, where he works part time as a construction safety officer. The board said MacKay will also be monitored by the high-risk offender unit of local police forces.
MacKay had been serving his sentence at a minimum-security prison in the Fraser Valley.
“[Correctional Service Canada] indicates your behaviour and motivation during the current term of day parole have been positive,” the parole board said in its Feb. 27 decision. “Based on your overall progress and stability, the CSC supports another term of day parole based on their opinion that your risk to re-offend remains manageable in the community.”
The Correctional Service also supported overnight leave and recommended that nine special conditions be imposed.
The board noted that MacKay has made personal changes, including embracing Indigenous culture, though he is not Indigenous.
“Your file indicates your connection to Indigenous culture has helped you make significant gains in understanding and overcoming your deep-rooted anger towards women,” the parole board decision says. “You acknowledge your issues with rigid thinking, impulsivity and emotional instability and, although you have previously been described as demanding, self-serving and a habitual liar, you have more recently been described as polite, cooperative, responsive to feedback and forthcoming.”
It also said MacKay no longer appears to value a life of substance abuse and has maintained his sobriety for an extended period.
The parole board noted MacKay has been taking a prescribed psychotropic medication that improves his mental clarity, curbs his impulsive behavioural responses and helps him feel more “grounded.”
The most recent correctional plan update, completed in February, confirms McKay has a moderate need for improvement only in the risk area of personal/emotional orientation, the parole board said, adding in all other areas, he is deemed to have a low need for improvement.
The board rated MacKay’s accountability and reintegration potential as “medium.”
During the first term of day parole, however, the parole board noted that McKay showed “struggles.”
Documents from the board said MacKay turned to substance abuse after police notified the public of his release and labelled him a high-risk offender. “It was also noted you had run out of prescribed medication faster than anticipated based on your dosage,” the parole board said.
Corrections staff also learned that MacKay had travelled into an area where sex-trade workers were known to be present, a breach of one of the conditions of his parole. But MacKay claimed his cellphone provided him with faulty directions.
McKay’s case-management team made the decision to maintain his release without a suspension “because you did not linger in those areas.”
The parole board said after those breaches, MacKay completed a sex-offender program, continued to attend Indigenous spiritual activities, provided six negative drug tests and expressed an interest in seeking employment. McKay took training and found part-time employment as a construction safety officer.
McKay’s performance review with the company indicates he is a hard-working employee who gets along with others, according to the parole board. There were indications that the company was considering hiring him on a full-time basis, but after it learned of the details of his criminal history, the offer for full-time work was withdrawn in early February.
“Your [case management team] reports you were disappointed … but generally handled your emotions appropriately,” said the parole board, adding MacKay remains employed with the company and has been working at various sites in the Lower Mainland.
MacKay’s criminal history dates back to 1984 and includes convictions for impaired driving, assault, sexual assault and unlawful confinement.
His sexual-assault conviction in 1986 involved the choking and sexual assault of a sex-trade worker, and his unlawful-confinement conviction arose out of another incident the same year in which MacKay picked up a sex-trade worker, then drove around dangerously, refusing to let her leave the vehicle, according to previous parole-board documents.
The victim was able to jump from the vehicle, then had to dodge out of the way as MacKay accelerated toward her.
MacKay was convicted of both offences in 1987 and was out on bail at the time of Telesford’s murder.
The parole board said MacKay remains a person of interest in an unsolved homicide of a woman that same year.
