Pensioner’s machete killer has jail sentence increased
AVIOLENT thug who was jailed for the savage murder of a disabled pensioner smirked as top judges added nearly seven years to his minimum jail term.
Jordan Davidson, 26, of Wrexham, brutally murdered 67-year-old Nicholas Churton in his flat, attacking him with a hammer and machete.
Mr Churton, a retired former restaurant owner, was found dead in his one-bed flat in Crescent Close, Wrexham, in March last year.
Davidson, who had embarked on a violent crime spree around north Wales, was jailed for life in December, with a minimum term of 23 years and four months. The druguser had pleaded guilty to offences including murder, attempted grievous bodily harm, two burglaries, a robbery and an attempted robbery.
Yesterday, he was back before a court – and flanked by heavily armoured prison guards – as top judges ruled his sentence “unduly lenient”.
Watching the hearing via a video link from Manchester Prison, the now bearded murderer smirked as Lady Justice Rafferty upped his minimum term to 30 years.
Had the previous minimum term stood, the judge said Davidson would have effectively gone unpunished for the other offences.
The court heard Davidson’s killing of Mr Churton was aggravated by the fact he had used two different weapons. The victim was “extremely vulnerable” and attacked with “extreme violence” in his own home.
Davidson was subject to licence and bail at the time. The murder came amid a “spree of serious and violent offending”, including the use of significant violence and weapons.
His only mitigation was the fact he pleaded guilty, had no previous convictions for anything as serious and suffered from a mental disorder.
The case reached court yesterday after a reference by solicitor general Robert Buckland QC, on the grounds that the sentence was too lenient.
Increasing the term, Lady Justice Rafferty told the Court of Appeal that the other offences would have justified a sentence of 16 years by themselves.
The minimum term which the judge imposed at the crown court was “far too low”, she said.
“The overall minimum term had to be increased significantly so as to mark the total offending,” she said. “We quash the minimum term and substitute for it a term of 30 years.”
Davidson will only be freed after serving his minimum term if the Parole Board is convinced he is no longer a public danger.