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The cousin of Manson Family victim Gary Hinman has issued a plea to California governor Gavin Newsom to keep killers Robert Beausoleil and Leslie Van Houten in jail, after both were granted parole this month.

Hinman, a 32-year-old music teacher, was tortured for three days and then stabbed to death by Charles Manson and his followers Beausoleil, Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins in July 1969.

After Hinman's death, the gang used his blood to daub the words 'Political Piggy' and a picture of a panther paw print on the wall of his Topanga Canyon, California, home.

Van Houten was not involved but did take part in the brutal murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca on August 9, 1969.

Now his cousin Kay Hinman Martley, 81, of Denver, Colorado, has spoken exclusively to DailyMailTV to beg Newsom to overturn the parole board's January 3 and 30 decisions to free Beausoleil and Van Houten, and says she has launched a supporting petition that has amassed 40,000 signatures so far.

Victim: Gary Hinman, a 32-year-old music teacher, was tortured for three days and then stabbed to death by Charles Manson and his followers in July 1969.  His cousin, Kay Hinman Martley (right) has issued a plea to Governor Newsom to keep the killers behind bars 

Manson Family: Susan Atkins (far left) Robert Beausoleil, and Mary Brunner (not pictured) killed Hinman after arriving at his Topanga home mistakenly believing he had acquired a $21,000 inheritance. Leslie Van Houten (far right) was not involved but did take part in other murders

The retired schoolteacher also said the parole decisions made the family feel ignored and said it makes her angry that killer Beausoleil is allowed to sell his art and music via a website from jail.

She said: 'These people are all psychopaths or sociopaths. They lie constantly about what they did or why they did it.

'Bobby Beausoleil said at the parole hearing, this last one [on January 3], that he regretted the murder. But no remorse. I didn't hear that. I heard the word 'regret' and that doesn't do it for me.'

The 81-year-old added: 'It makes me feel that we just are not being listened to. The parole board doesn't take into account the heinous crime that was committed.

'This man has been allowed to produce art and videos, music and record it. He has a website that he sells his merchandise on.

'At the hearing, he said he had given $2,000 to the art program at the prison that he's at now. But why is he allowed to run a business and be in prison?

'It's not fair. Gary's dead. He never got to have children, a wife, a career. This is not right.'

Hinman was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, on December 24 1934 and raised in Fort Collins by his parents Robert and Frances, along with his two younger sisters Carol and Barbara.

His family were close and Martley said the whole clan would gather every Sunday for dinner, with Hinman putting on piano recitals to entertain them.

'I always remember him as a child, he played the piano,' Martley, who is two years younger than her murdered cousin, told DailyMailTV.

Beausoleil(pictured left in 1969, and right in 2016) was sentenced to death at his trial in April 1970 – a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment in 1972. He was recommended for parole in early January 

Leslie Van Houten was 19 years old when she helped murder Rosemary and Leno LaBianca on August 9, 1969. She was recommended for parole on Wednesday 

'On Sundays we had family dinners and they had a huge grand piano in their house and his mother was very proud of his ability and he would play the piano for us all.

'It was quite nice. That's my biggest memory of Gary.'

When Hinman moved to California in the early 1960s, it was to study for a PHD in social work at UCLA, although he supplemented his income by teaching music.

A devout Buddhist, he became involved in Southern California's hippy scene, often letting what Martley describes as 'dropouts' sleep on his couch.

Through his hippy friends, Hinman was drawn into the Manson Family's orbit – with devastating consequences.

Although Hinman's death has partly been eclipsed by later Manson Family murders, including those of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and the LaBiancas, the facts of his killing make for gruesome reading.

Mistakenly believing that Hinman had come into a $21,000 inheritance, Manson, Beausoleil, Brunner and Atkins arrived at his home on the evening of July 25 1969 and demanded the cash.

When he refused to hand over the money, telling them he did not have it, Manson sliced off his ear and then left the property – leaving him to be tortured over two agonizing days by the other three.

Martley told DailyMailTV: 'It's been told different ways what happened in that house but the bottom line is Gary was murdered and they bragged about it.

'Manson came to the house, he cut Gary's ear off and after three days, Bobby Beausoleil calls Manson and says, "well he's signed over his two cars but he doesn't have any money – what should I do?"

Ringleader Manson sliced Hinman's ear off and then left the property – leaving him to be tortured over two agonizing days by the other three cult members 

'Manson says "kill him". And Bobby Beausoleil killed him. There was no hesitation. And then he left him, in the heat of summer, to rot – literally – for three days.

'Every time his friends had called the house during the three days of torture, they told them Gary had gone to Colorado to visit his family. So nobody was looking for him.

'After a while, some of his friends decided they better go knock on the door and the smell was so horrendous, they called the police immediately.'

Beausoleil was arrested 11 days later on August 6: discovered sleeping in the back of Hinman's Fiat car just off Highway 101 near San Luis Obispo, California.

His arrest meant he was not involved in the brutal Tate murders on the night of August 8, 1969 nor the deaths of the LaBiancas the following evening, although both Brunner and Atkins were.

But, like Atkins and Manson himself, Beausoleil was sentenced to death at his trial in April 1970 – a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment in 1972.

Martley says she believed that was it and she would never hear of Beausoleil, or any member of the Manson Family, again.

'When it [the death penalty] was changed to life imprisonment, I thought that was it. But they left out the two words 'without parole' when they did that.

'Then they put the death sentence back but they didn't reverse that or make accommodations for that legally, so that's what happened there.

'A few years ago, the District Attorney of LA called me for [Manson killer] Bruce Davis's hearing and said, would I come and represent Gary at the hearing.

'I said, well yes but he's not going to get out. And he said, well actually, yes he could. I said, no, no and that's when it all started.'

Since then, Martley has attended every parole hearing for all of the surviving Manson Family killers and says she will fight tooth and nail to keep Beausoleil, Davis, Van Houten, Tex Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel behind bars.

Manson had been in prison since 1971 and died behind bars in November 2018 

Davis was cleared for release in February 2017, only to have it overturned by former Governor of California Jerry Brown.

Watson and Krenwinkel were both denied parole, in October 2016 and July 2017 respectively, and cannot make further applications until October 2021 and July 2022.

Martley says she hopes newly-elected Gavin Newsom will do the same for Beausoleil and Van Houten, and overturn the parole board's decision but worries he might not.

She said: 'Governor Newsom, please. Do not give any of these five people parole. For public safety, they don't deserve to be out on the street.

'They are psychopaths and sociopaths. They were given death sentences. They were fortunate and got life imprisonment. They live a very comfortable life. They don't have to pay rent. They have food.

'They have everything they need. It's not uncomfortable – I've been in the prisons they're in and they're in pretty nice prisons, if prison can be nice. But they don't belong on the public street.'

Whatever Newsom decides, Martley says she will fight on. 'My aunt, she died a year after the murder because of the horrible way the house was left and how it had to be cleaned up.

'Then we relive this through movies and television and interviews – it never is going to stop. So I've made up my mind that I have to fight for Gary to keep these five people in there [jail].'

She added: 'My family are from third generation pioneers from Colorado. We've raised cattle, had farms, been in the legislature, we've built roads.

'We are tough people and that's me. I am a Hinman and I'm tough and I intend to see this through as much as I can and as far as I can to make sure these people don't get parole.'