Families disgusted at early release of murderer’s helpers

Campaign for justice launched as CPS rules out appeal ‘We all have a life sentence and they’re now walking free on the streets again’

Two women who helped Canterbury double murderer Foster Christian have walked free from prison this week – prompting a campaign for justice by the victims’ families.

Samantha Groombridge and Naomi Toro were released after serving half their sentences for concealing the knife Christian used to stab Simon Gorecki and Natasha Sadler-ellis at a house in Canterbury on March 29.

The victims’ families believe Groombridge and Toro were not sufficiently punished – but prosecutors revealed this week they will not ask the attorney general to review the sentences.

Christian, 54, started a life sentence with a 30-year tariff for the murders in October.

Groombridge, 19, who was pregnant at the time of the murders, received 10 weeks in prison for concealing the knife and was released on Tuesday.

Toro, of Keyworth Mews on the Brymore Estate, received a year in prison after she threw the knife into the River Stour at Fordwich.

She was released on Friday, having spent most of her sentence on remand.

Upon hearing that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would not appeal the sentences, the families of Mr Gorecki, 47, and Ms Sadler-ellis, 40, said they would press the attorney general for a review.

Ms Sadler-ellis’s sister, Jodie Sadler, said they were particularly horrified by the behaviour of Toro, who visited the crime scene and would have stepped over Natasha as she lay bleeding to death on the stairs.

She also walked past a 16-year-old boy on the ground outside, who was one of two other people stabbed at the house.

The boy and Ms Sadler-ellis’s son, Connaugh Harris, 20, both survived their injuries.

Ms Sadler, 37, said: “Toro stepped over my sister as she lay dying on the stairs. There was blood everywhere.

“She walked past the boy as he lay outside the house. She would have heard him ask ‘am I going to die?’.

“She’s a mother. How could she walk past a child in a pool of blood on the ground, screaming and bleeding to death?”

Groombridge, of Athelstan Road, Thanington, took the knife and hid it before handing it back to Toro, who threw it in the river.

Afterwards, the teenager joked about the crime on Facebook, saying: “There not gunna be OK, they’ve been stabbed lol.”

Jodie went on: “Both of these women are now mothers. Both had choices, but they lied and lied and lied.

“Toro should have had the book thrown at her – 10 years at least. She had so many choices and every time she made the wrong one.

“When the police arrived she could have handed over the knife, but instead she went next door for a cup of coffee. All the time she was just thinking how she could protect Foster Christian and herself.

“Groombridge also had choices. She offered to take the knife. She could have given it to the police, but she chose not to. And then she laughed about it on Facebook. “It’s absolutely disgusting.” The trial judge said both women would have known the knife was used in multiple stabbings, telling Toro: “It is hardly possible to overstate the seriousness of what you did.”

He also admitted Groombridge’s sentence was “shorter than many others would think right”.

But Nigel Pilkington, who is the Head of the CPS South East Complex Casework Unit, said: “The CPS has carefully considered whether or not to make an application for the sentence of Naomi Tori and Samantha Groombridge to be reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office as unduly lenient.

“Following this review, we have concluded the sentence does not meet the criteria for referral.”

Heartbroken by the decision, the families have now launched their campaign on Facebook called Justice4natashaandsimon.

“We all have a life sentence and they’re now walking free on the streets again,” Jodie said.

“Five weeks and six months for helping a murderer? What message does that send to the public, to the children of today? With so much knife crime going on, it’s outrageous.

“They can now spend Christmas with their families, while Natasha’s and Simon’s families and friends are spending Christmas without them. “It makes me feel sick. “Natasha had an amazing bond with her three boys. The effect this has had on them I can’t even put into words. They’re living with it every day.

“Tasha gives us the strength to continue to fight on for justice for her and her boys. I know she’d do the same if the shoe was on the other foot.”

Victim Natasha Sadler