Knife victim’s family vows to fight for tougher sentencing
Jail terms ‘too lenient’, says sister of murdered man whose killer got 12 years
THE family of a man stabbed to death has vowed to continue their fight for tougher sentences for those killed through knife crime.
Larne man Laurence Shaw (56) was murdered in his Hillmount Gardens home in October 2017.
Jackie Murray Mcdowell (40), from Co Antrim, was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he admitted the killing. He will serve a minimum 12 years in jail before he is eligible for release.
The victim’s family unsuccessfully lobbied the Public Prosecution Service to have the sentence appealed.
Figures obtained by the BBC, based on analysis of sentencing from 2017 onwards, show the average minimum term handed out for murder by courts here is almost 10 years lower than in England and Wales.
Laurence’s sister Rose said what happened is never far from her mind.
“It’s very frustrating. I’d like to move forward but at the same time it’s going through my head that I should contact and appeal to other families that are out there that aren’t happy with sentences they have got for the murder of their loved ones,” she said.
“There is more than just my brother who has been murdered and got a short sentence, there are lots of people out there. We need a deterrent.”
Judges are bound by sentencing guidelines and must take into account mitigating circumstances, such as early guilty pleas, cooperation with police and remorse, as well as aggravating factors such as intent and excessive violence.
The Shaw family’s plea comes amid ongoing concerns over the scale of knife crime.
Latest PSNI figures show 741 incidents involving a knife or a sharp instrument were reported in the 12 months to June 2020. That’s two a day on average.
Mr Shaw (56), a former joiner, was found with stab wounds to his neck and chest.
The family’s pain was compounded recently with the death of their mother, who was 84.
“Christmas is now a really sad time for us,” Rose said.
“My brother was killed in a car crash on December 17, 1978; my father passed away on November 29, 1988; Laurence died on October 8, 2017, and my mum has just passed away on the same date as my father, November 29.”
The family had chosen not to tell mum Margaret about the details of Laurence’s death.
Rose explained: “We are a close-knit family. She became very, very ill and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“We as a family decided not to tell her because she wasn’t in a good place
“We didn’t think it would be any good for her health.
“She might have remembered what we said and then forgotten about it and then get emotional, because she was at that stage with the Parkinson’s disease.”
The PPS said: “The PPS received a request to consider whether there was a basis to refer the sentence handed down in this case to the Court of Appeal on the ground that it may be unduly lenient.
“We gave detailed and careful consideration to the sentence handed down to Jackie Mcdowell for the offence of murder.
“Following careful examination of the facts of the case, the relevant law and sentencing guidelines, and the trial judge’s sentencing remarks, it was concluded in August 2019 that the sentence was not outside the range that the judge could reasonably have imposed. Accordingly, a decision was taken not to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.”
A spokesman for the Lord Chief Justice said: “It is not appropriate to compare the sentencing tariffs for murder in Northern Ireland with those of England and Wales, as each tariff will depend on the specific factual circumstances in each case.
“Care should also be taken when comparing average figures as the number of murder cases disposed of in NI per year is likely to be significantly smaller than in England and Wales.
“That explains why there is so much variation in average tariffs year on year in this jurisdiction.
“There are many examples of tariffs of 15 years or more being imposed in this jurisdiction where premeditated murders are carried out with weapons by persons of bad character.
“Murder is one of the offences where the Director of Public Prosecutions can refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal if he considers it to be unduly lenient.”