Millard appeals ‘too harsh’ Babcock verdict

TORONTO — Dellen Millard, who killed his former lover and burned her body in an animal incinerator, has filed an appeal, arguing his first-degree murder conviction was unreasonable and the life sentence he received too harsh.

In his notice of appeal, Millard also claims the judge forced him to represent himself at the murder trial in the case of Laura Babcock, a 23-year-old Toronto woman who disappeared in the summer of 2012 and whose body was never found.

Late last year, a jury found Millard, 32, of Toronto, and his former friend, Mark Smich, 30, of Oakville, guilty in Babcock’s murder.

The trial heard the pair killed Babcock because she had become the odd woman out in a love triangle with Millard and his girlfriend at the time.

Babcock’s mother, Linda Babcock, expressed outrage Thursday when told of Millard’s reasons for appealing the conviction.

“Just ask Laura if the sentence is too harsh for him,” she said.

“I’m disgusted. The whole trial ... was outrageous. He wanted to represent himself, he wanted the spectacle.”

Millard and Smich had previously been convicted of murder in the killing of Tim Bosma, who went missing in 2013 and whose body was also burned in an animal incinerator.

Smich appealed the conviction and sentence for Babcock’s murder late last month, also saying the verdict was unreasonable and the sentence too harsh.