Southport triple killer jailed for life with minimum of 52 years

24 comments

1. [removed]

2. Judge did (is doing, ongoing) well in explaining how that figure was concluded.

   Second longest minimum term ever given by British judiciary.

3. I hope the victims and the victims’ family can find some solace in this. He will likely never see the ~~day of light~~ light of day again and that’s about the harshest punishment our state can legally deal out.

4. 9 days saved him from an actual whole life order, as close as you can get I suppose.

5. 52 years is decent but doesn’t feel like enough still.
   Life meaning life wouldn’t be enough though either for such a despicable act.

6. Longest sentence I can remember. The parol board won’t even consider release until he’s 69 years old.

7. The witness statements have been absolutely heartbreaking, especially Leanne’s I think. So much loss, guilt, anger, fear but all of them are just absolutely devastating to read, there’s more that 3 dead children from this crime, he will never be freed

8. At least some justice has now been served, we should now wait for the inquiry into how this could happen and support any change that can help prevent it happening again.

9. I’m not convinced he will last very long in prison anyway given how angry the other prisoners will be when they realise who he is.

10. A truly evil person. He will spend the rest of his life in solitary as they will never be able to let him mix with the rest of the prison population.

11. He better hope he’s in solitary confinement for that sentence because whichever prison he gets sent to, he will have a target on him from every single prisoner.

    8 days from a whole life tariff. I wonder if sometimes there should be an amendment to tbe sentencing guideliness for under 18s to be imposed a whole life order in the most extreme cases like this.

    I’m not a lawyer, but I wonder if this was the maximum minimum term he could manage. Could he have found a way to consecutive these sentences to force it to be effectively a whole life order? I doubt anyone would’ve considered it unduly harsh.

    I know the judge has to be detached from emotion at this, including public sentiment though.

    I’ve no doubt whether through old age or prisoner “intervention” he’ll die in prison though.

12. Although i understand the judge explaining why that terms has been given.

    It still boggles my mind the system in this country allows a child to basically get off without a full life sentence.

    This country **HAS** to accept that some crimes deserve a full life sentence, regardless of age. Even if just to send a message, full life term without ever being released sends a much stronger message than saying “52 years but he probably wont be released”.

13. Still not long enough, we need to scrap concurrent* sentencing and let them rack up 500 years like in the USA.

14. Can’t imagine he’ll do well in prison. He’ll be in protective custody for decades.

15. He will either have to be segregated from all other prisoners or he will die in prison.

16. I know it’s a laywers job and I understand how difficult it must be morally for them, but I could never imagine representing somebody so truly evil

17. Good.

    I am one of the people who thinks it very likely that mental health issues played a major role here. That does not mean I think those issues excuse him. His crimes are beyond belief. He is incredibly dangerous. He cannot live in society, he should not. Whether he is mad or bad or a combination of both, he should not be free to harm others.

    I do hope he can be worked with simply so that there is a hope of learning more about how to spot and minimise risks posed by people like him at an earlier stage.

18. Must be the #1 most hated prisoner in the entire country. I’d bet other inmates will be introducing him to prison napalm very quickly

19. This is the second longest non-whole life sentence ever given. And were he *9 days* older it would be a whole life order.

    I strongly suspect someone will still appeal it as unduly lenient though.

    Edit to add, yeah the local MP has already appealed it as unduly lenient.

20. Out of curiosity, I looked up the average life expectancy for a long-term prisoner in the UK and Google says that the median age attained for those who die of natural causes in prison is 67.5 years. It’s almost certain he’s dying in prison.

21. Stockport MP says that it’s not long enough. Seems very performative. This isn’t someone who’s going to see the outside of prison (and likely not the outside of this decade).

22. I read a comment that stated that this type of attack was our version of the US school shootings, which I thought was quite pertinent.

    First of all, there is not much comfort to be taken from this tradgedy, but imagine if he had access to an assault rifle? The carnage would have been unimaginable.

    Also, the US accept school shootings as a normal part of their society, but we need to develop ways of discovering young people who are atracted to the notoriety of mass murder driven by violent imagery and ensure there is early intervention to prevent it developing.

23. He will end up in a secure mental hospital within a couple of years or less. He may not be mentally ill within the strict legal definition of it, but he appears to have a severe personality disorder and he is on the autistism spectrum. He is about as far from any kind of common understading of “sane” as it is possible to be without being formally mentally ill. He will not cope with prison and his behaviour will become increasingly more disturbed. Eventually a transfer to Broadmoor/Rampton/Ashworth will become the only option. The same happened with the likes of Ronnie Kray, Ian Brady, Peter Sutcliffe, Dale Cregan Beverley Allitt etc- all were judged to be fit to plead at trial and not mentally ill. All started in prisons and ended up in secure hospitals.

24. The inmates will make sure those 52 years are a living nightmare!!

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