...as tragic Star’s mother faces review into eight-year jail term
THE eight-year jail term given to Star Hobson’s mother could be increased following criticism from a minister that it was too lenient.
The sentence is being looked at by the Attorney General who could send the case to the Appeal Court for consideration.
Health minister Gillian Keegan suggested the eight years given to Frankie Smith, 20, ‘doesn’t sound like’ justice. Smith, who was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, will only serve two-thirds of her sentence and is due to be released in four years because of time spent on remand.
Her lover Savannah Brockhill, 28, will serve a minimum of 25 years for murdering 16-month-old Star.
The minister said the case was ‘shocking’ and ‘quite unbelievable’. And, asked about the length of Smith’s sentence, Mrs Keegan told the LBC radio station: ‘It doesn’t sound enough, as a human being, it doesn’t sound enough.’
The minister, whose brief includes care, said Attorney General Suella Braverman had the power to call for a sentence review ‘so I’m sure that she’ll be having those conversations’. Friends and family hit out at the eight-year term handed to Smith at Bradford Crown Court.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: ‘We have received a request for these sentences to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to consider the case and make a decision.’
Smith and Brockhill physically abused Star for weeks before she was killed with a blow to the stomach at home in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in September last year.