Simon Vickers' murder sentence not unduly lenient
Lord Justice Stuart-Smith said the trial judge's sentence was "properly to be described as merciful, but it is none the worse for that".
Vickers' trial heard Scarlett suffered a 4in (11cm) deep wound to her heart when she was stabbed in the kitchen of her family home on Geneva Road on the evening of 5 July.Both her father and mother claimed the injury was inflicted accidentally but a pathologist said it was "practically impossible" for it to have been caused by anything other than a knife being held firmly in a hand.
The case was referred under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme by an unknown person to the Solicitor General, who passed it on the Court of Appeal to consider.In a written submission on behalf of the Solicitor General at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Louise Oakley said the case had been an "extremely difficult task" for the sentencing judge Mr Justice Cotter.Ms Oakley said it was a case where a child died as a result of an "unprecedented burst of anger by an otherwise caring parent".But the "highly experienced" judge gave too much weight to mitigating factors and not enough to aggravating features, she said, which "failed to adequately reflect the overall seriousness" of the crime.
In particular, Ms Oakley said the judge had not adequately counted the use of a knife in the killing as an aggravating factor which, if it had been, would have seen an increase on the 15-year minimum.Scarlett's age and the fact she was killed in a "domestic context", which represented a "violation of the trust" children should have in their patents, should also have elevated the sentence, Ms Oakley said.She also said the judge "erred" in "completely disregarding" Vickers' previous convictions, in particular for intentionally wounding a man, whose face he slashed with a Stanley knife in October 1993, for which the then 19-year-old received two years' detention in a Young Offender Institution.Ms Oakley also said the judge gave too much credit for the lack of premeditation and "absence of an intention to kill" by Vickers, adding: "[Vickers] deliberately picked up and used a knife for no reason whatsoever."Scarlett posed no threat to the offender."She also said Vickers had not accepted responsibility for what he did.
In response, Nicholas Lumley KC, who represented Vickers at trial, said Mr Justice Cotter had presided over a "very highly charged trial" and was "uniquely placed" to judge the culpability, remorse and punishment already inflicted on Vickers.He said the judge had "weighed all matters appropriately" and his conclusion had been "reasonable".The appeal court judges Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Mr Justice Goose and Mrs Justice Eady said everyone accepted it was an "exceptional and unique" case.Lord Justice Stuart-Smith said Scarlett and her parents had been a "happy family who doted on each other" whose lives "changed catastrophically" on 5 July.He said Scarlett's mother Sarah Hall and their wider family still "resolutely supported" Vickers.But, he added, the appeal court could not let the family's vehement defences of Vickers affect them and the findings of the jury had to be respected.Lord Justice Stuart-Smith said the trial judge had reached a "justified and humane conclusion" in a "very difficult" case, adding: "It is properly to be described as merciful, but it is none the worse for that."Ms Hall previously told the BBC she still believed her daughter's death was a tragic accident.
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Mrs Minihane says: 'The day after that trouble I went on our Facebook group – there's about 700 of us – and said we are never going to win if we have more protests like that. We need to change the narrative. So we ordered a batch of T-shirts saying 'We Are The Children's Voice'. And we are going to show that this problem is much worse than people think it is.' She talks of repeated incidents of women being pestered while jogging or walking their dogs and recounts the story of a friend, a mother of four girls. Her 15-year-old, she said, was chased on the local common by a man who, she says, was living at The Bell. 'She told the police, who did nothing at first,' says Mrs Minihane. 'When she went back again, they told her to be careful. They said: 'Remember what happened to those protesters after Southport.' But we're not putting up with that any more.' I later verify the story with the girl's mother. Mr Farage explains that what Mrs Minihane is doing in Epping reflects a broader trend. 'The boats issue is increasingly becoming a female issue. Mums for Reform, call it what you will, is a real thing,' he says, pointing to this month's Tory-to-Reform defections of Laura Anne Jones, a member of the Welsh Senedd, and Westminster city councillor, Laila Cunningham, along with a marked shift in the party's membership. Having been 58 per cent male and 42 per cent female at the last election, he says, it is now 50:50. It's hard to see what more the Tory-run council can do. All are as one when it comes to the failings of the Home Office, which commandeered the hotel without consulting the locals first. 'We are speaking to the Home Office on a regular basis. I have to say to you, at the present time, they have not been overly co-operative,' council leader Chris Whitbread tells the meeting. Holly Whitbread, his fellow Tory councillor (and daughter), is more forthright: 'It is my firm belief that the Government is now treating our community with contempt. Contempt for local democracy, contempt for public safety, contempt for our town which deserves better than this.' The hotel has been the trigger for plenty of other complaints, too. Hairdresser Barry Seago tells me that today alone he has had five cancellations from customers worried about trouble in the town. Locals point to the trouble they have in finding an NHS dentist – hence their fury when they saw a mobile dental unit turn up at The Bell. This week has also seen protests an hour away at Canary Wharf, where the Home Office has taken over the vast Britannia International Hotel, which has 531 bedrooms, as a new accommodation centre. I remember the days when my old newspaper used to hold (rather dreary) office parties there. It might be more Alan Partridge than The Ritz but it's not cheap. As Whitehall maintains its customary reluctance to discuss these things, rumours are rampant that migrants will be housed three to a room, suggesting a new population of 1,500 predominantly young, undocumented adult men with nothing to do. Here, I meet a small group of protesters in the rain, all native East Enders who live around here. Once again, they are happy to be identified. 'You've got working people round here using food banks – my Mum runs one – and then people are being put up here on three square meals a day and we don't know anything about who they are,' says Ben Cavanagh, 45, a scaffolder and father of three. Fellow scaffolder Matthew John-Lewis, 44, says tensions have gone off the scale. 'I'm busting my arse off to pay taxes for all this. I can barely afford the rent on a two-bedroom flat and this lot get given everything,' argues the father of four children. He adds that he does not want his children to be targeted by gangs of bored young men who 'don't understand' British culture. 'And don't anyone dare call us racist. My family were immigrants and I'm three-quarters black,' he says. The hefty police presence here and the even bigger one in Epping are an acknowledgement that we are at a very ugly tipping point. With another Stand Up To Racism protest against the residents of Epping – or 'organised Nazis' as they call them – planned for Sunday, further outbreaks of violence are no longer a question of if – but when.
