‘Rough sex’ death: No review on sentence
A MULTI-millionaire who left his girlfriend dying at the bottom of the stairs after a ‘rough sex’ session will not have his sentence reviewed, it has been confirmed.
Property developer John Broadhurst was jailed for three years and eight months on December 17 after he admitted the gross negligence manslaughter of 26-year-old Natalie Connolly.
The mother-of-one was found lying in the hallway of her the home she shared with Broadhurst in Kinver, near Stourbridge, in December 2016.
She had more than 40 separate injuries – including serious internal trauma – and a post mortem showed she had died from acute alcohol intoxication and blunt force injuries.
Broadhurst, now of Blakeshall Farm in Wolverley, was cleared of murdering Natalie and causing her grievous bodily harm on the directions of the judge following legal submissions part-way through his trial at B irm ingham Crown Court .
Following what she described as an ‘unduly lenient’ sentence, Labour MP Harriet Harman, who served as solicitor general, wrote to the Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox, to request a formal review.
But despite saying he initially shared Ms Harman’s concern that there “could have been an error in the sentence”, the Attor- ney General said he would not be pursuing the matter.
In a letter, shared on Twitter by a ‘bitterly disappointed’ Ms Harman, he said: “Having carefully reviewed the papers, I am satisfied the judge approached the sentencing in the correct way and I have concluded the sentence was not outside the range of sentences that were reasonably available to the judge.
“I do not believe I can properly argue the judge fell into gross error when imposing the sentences.
“It would therefore not be right for me to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.”