One-punch savage killer’s soft sentence to be reviewed by Court of Appeal

THE Attorney General has referred the sentencing of a one-punch killer to the Court of Appeal for being “unduly ­lenient” following the Sunday Express crusade for tougher punishment for unprovoked fatal attacks.

SICKENING Lewis Gill s unprovoked attack on Asperger 039 s sufferer Andrew Young SICKENING: Lewis Gill’s unprovoked attack on Asperger's sufferer Andrew Young [REX]

Nearly 1,500 readers have joined us in calling for a “one-punch law” to bring in minimum eight-year jail terms for dangerous assaults of this kind since our campaign began three weeks ago.

We called for urgent action after a spate of prison sentences for sickening one-punch deaths that will see offenders serve just 18 months or two years behind bars, leaving victims’ families feeling they have been denied justice.

It came to a head with public outrage at Lewis Gill being jailed for four years for killing 40-year-old Asperger’s sufferer Andrew Young with an unprovoked punch outside a shop in Bournemouth, Dorset, last year. Gill, 20, who has previous convictions for violence, could serve only half this sentence behind bars, with time spent on remand also taken off.

The outcry at Gill’s jail term has forced Attorney General Dominic Grieve to refer this to the Court of Appeal for three judges to look at increasing the sentence.

Nick de Bois, who sits on the Justice Select Committee in the House of Commons and has supported our campaign, welcomed the decision.

However, he said action was still needed to prevent soft sentences being given to other one-punch killers. He said: “I am pleased this case is being looked at but the bottom line remains, sentencing in these cases is inadequate.

“Tragically there are a lot of families in the same situation and there will be more, so I and colleagues are continuing to look for more permanent changes to sentencing.”

I am pleased this case is being looked at but the bottom line remains, sentencing in these cases is inadequate

Nick de Bois

The Conservative MP for Enfield North is gathering support at Westminster for an amendment to a bill going through Parliament. It could introduce mandatory jail terms for this type of manslaughter or create a new offence by law to deal with them separately from existing guidelines.

During a Commons debate on sentencing guidelines for manslaughter last week, Tobias Ellwood, Tory MP for Bournemouth East, challenged junior justice minister Jeremy Wright over the light sentence given to the killer of his constituent Mr Young.

He said: “I hope the minister will agree that there is no excuse for such violent behaviour and that the ­sentence seems unduly lenient.”

Mr Wright said: “This is clearly a very tragic case. It is right that we have high penalties available in appropriate cases, it is for individual sentencers to decide how to use them.”

The Sunday Express Crusade for ­justice for victims and their families began in July 2012 when a man was left so severely brain-damaged after a one-punch attack that he cannot walk, speak or recognise his mother.

Joshua Smith, 20, punched the 24-year-old victim, who has not been named, in the head in Leicester. He was sentenced to just two years’ detention after pleading guilty last April to ­grievous bodily harm. He will probably be released next month after serving half the sentence.

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