Warning: Graphic content A 71-year-old man who died in a B.C. prison last month had only returned to federal custody a few days earlier, parole documents reveal. The Correctional Service of Canada said in a news release on Sept. 29 that Dale Robert Marsh was serving a life sentence at the time of his death at the Pacific Institution’s Regional Treatment Centre in Abbotsford on Sept. 23. While technically true, the CSC’s description of the sentence—which it said began Oct. 10, 1995—omitted the fact that Marsh had been granted full parole twice, only to have it revoked both times. 2026 bank robbery The most recent revocation occurred on Sept. 15, just eight days before Marsh’s death, according to a Parole Board of Canada decision. The board revoked Marsh’s parole in response to outstanding charges against him that stemmed from an incident in Winnipeg on June 29 of this year. According to the board’s decision, Marsh was arrested in a casino that day after robbing a bank. “You allegedly attended a bank and provided a teller a note indicating that you were committing a robbery, that you wanted specific amounts of money, and that you had a firearm,” the decision reads, addressing Marsh directly. “You were allegedly given $600 in cash, both in CAD and USD, before fleeing in a taxi in which you had arrived.” When police arrested him, Marsh was allegedly in possession of a “dime bag” of fentanyl, according to the document. When he was granted full parole in January 2025, the decision indicates, Marsh was subject to several conditions, one of which was not to possess or consume alcohol or drugs. In August 2025, an additional condition banning him from gambling was also imposed. 2016 assault January 2025 was the second time Marsh had been granted full parole. The first came in October 2011. It was revoked in March 2016 after an incident the month prior in which Marsh assaulted and threatened his girlfriend of three years, according to the parole decision. “The altercation escalated to you hitting the victim with a cane, kicking her, and you attempted to strangle her while making verbal threats to kill her,” the decision reads, again addressing the offender directly. “You called the police and remained on the line while you continued to physically assault the victim, holding a knife to her throat. When police arrived, you refused to open the door. Police gained entry and witnessed you standing behind the victim with a knife to her throat. Police drew their firearms until the incident was de-escalated and you dropped the knife.” For that incident, Marsh was sentenced to an additional 15 months in prison, and his life sentence resumed. 1994 murder As indicated in the CSC news release, Marsh’s life sentence began in October 1995, roughly 11 months after he killed a woman in a parking lot in November 1994. The parole document indicates that Marsh and his victim knew each other. “It was reported that you had been selling her drugs in exchange for sexual favours for a number of years,” the decision reads. “You arranged to meet her and took her to a vacant lot where you shot her five times in the chest. You drove away leaving the victim on the ground where she succumbed to her injuries. The victim was discovered the following morning and police were notified.” Marsh was convicted of second-degree murder, an offence that carries an automatic life sentence, but offers significant leeway to the sentencing judge in determining how soon an offender should become eligible for parole. In Marsh’s case, the judge set parole eligibility at 15 years, according to the parole board decision. His release on full parole in October 2011 came approximately 16 years after his sentence began. Medical issues no excuse The parole board’s decision describes Marsh as being “deceitful” toward his case management team throughout his most recent release on full parole. He admitted, according to the document, that he had suffered from a gambling addiction for “50 years,” and that he had spent his $1,700 monthly CPP payment at casinos rather than paying for rent or medication. The decision describes Marsh telling the board that he continued gambling “as a form of pain management,” and that he continued doing it despite assuring his case management team in April 2025 that his gambling “would not be an ongoing problem.” The document also notes that Marsh had Parkinson’s disease, and that a letter from his physician suggested that the medication he was taking could “cause or contribute to” his gambling. The board considered this submission, but concluded that—even if Marsh had not had longstanding gambling issues—“the onus would be upon (him) to address (his) gambling concerns with (his) physician.” “In order for the board to cancel your suspension, the board must be satisfied that you will not, by reoffending before the expiration of your sentence according to law, present an undue risk to society, which it cannot,” the decision concludes. “The board does not believe there is any viable release plan at this time that could manage your risk in the community. As such, the board revokes your full parole release.” The board formally revoked Marsh’s parole on Sept. 15. He died eight days later of what the CSC referred to as “apparent natural causes.”
