Families welcome more time to fight 'soft' jail terms

The sister of a girl who was raped and murdered has welcomed a decision to give victims and bereaved families more time to challenge prison sentences they believe are too lenient.

Katie Brett, whose sibling Sasha Marsden, 16, was stabbed 58 times in Blackpool in 2013, spoke of her "relief" the deadline to lodge a challenge had been raised from 28 days to six months.

Katie told BBC Breakfast her family "feel like justice hasn't been served for Sasha," after killer David Minto was handed a 35-year jail term instead of a whole-life order.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says the review allows families and victims of the "most heinous crimes" to "not be left in the dark" about the right to challenge.

The MoJ has been asked if families will be able to challenge retrospectively.

Sasha's family have campaigned for the change and said they were never told they had a right to challenge the sentence given to her killer until it was too late.

The teenager was fatally stabbed after she was lured to a hotel run by the mother of Minto's girlfriend, with the promise of a job.

Minto attacked her so ferociously she had to be identified by DNA from her toothbrush.

Someone handed a life sentence in prison can be released on licence after serving a minimum term, in Minto's case 35 years, but a whole-life order means a person can never be released, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances.

Katie said: "He will serve 35 years but, if he gets out, he's going to be 57. A 57-year-old man is still capable of committing murder and rape, which is what he's done already, so people are not safe.

"Sasha's lost a life, but people are not safe from him. Some people can't be rehabilitated."

She also said: "It's a relief that in Sasha's memory, victims and their families will have six months to challenge an unduly lenient sentence and the new legal duty to be notified means every family will know their rights to be able to do so.

"No family should ever be left in the dark like we were."

Katie continued: "He crossed a line and I know I would say that as Sasha's sister but if you look at what he did, that is a line that you've crossed and there's no going back from that.

"If you've got the dead body of a child in front of you and you choose to go and do what he then did - which I don't think I can say on breakfast TV - you are not able to be rehabilitated.

"There's no coming back from that. So he is a dangerous man that if he gets out, he will kill again and that means Sasha's died for nothing."

The MoJ said after listening to "courageous campaigners" such as Katie and Tracy Hanson - whose 21-year-old son Josh was killed in London by Shane O'Brien, who was jailed for 26 years - it had confirmed victims and families would "have up to six months to ask for a sentence to be reconsidered - rather than being strictly limited to 28 days".

Tracey, from Bedfordshire, who has campaigned for seven years for the change, said she was not originally told about her right to challenge the sentence handed down to O'Brien for killing her son.

Tracy said: "These changes represent a hard-fought victory in ensuring that families are no longer left in the dark or rushed through a traumatising process during the most painful moments of their lives."

The provision is being added to The Victims and Courts Bill.

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