MPS TO DEBATE JAIL TERM GIVEN TO SHARLOTTE’S KILLER
It comes after top law officers rejected claims sentence is ‘too lenient’
MP JONATHAN Gullis is to hold a debate in Parliament in his ‘fight for justice’ for a schoolgirl who died when she was knocked down by a drunken, drugged-up driver.
The Westminster Hall debate will take place as part of the Stoke-ontrent North MP’S campaign to get an increase in the six years and four months sentence handed out to John Owen.
He killed six-year-old Sharlottesky Naglis as she walked along the pavement with her dad in Stokeon-trent in June 2021.
The jail sentence was described as an ‘insult to Sharlotte’s family’ by MP Mr Gullis, who wrote to both the Solicitor General and Attorney General to have the jail term reviewed on the basis it was ‘unduly lenient’.
But The Sentinel revealed last week that the Attorney General had backed the Solicitor General’s initial assertion that the sentence given to Owen was ‘not unduly lenient’.
The MP’S Westminster Hall debate takes place tomorrow and will be broadcast live on Parliamentlive TV. Mr Gullis said: “Following the highly disappointing replies from the Attorney General and Solicitor General it is right that I continue to raise this pathetic sentence at the highest level.
“I am pleased to have secured a debate which provides another opportunity to highlight the injustices of this case. I will not stop fighting for justice for Sharlotte-sky.”
Owen, of The Square, Oakamoor, ploughed into Sharlotte and her dad Kris as they walked along the pavement in Endon Road near their Norton Green home on June 19 last year. Sharlotte died instantly and Kris was injured.
Owen admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Stoke-ontrent Crown Court in July and was jailed in October. He was given a third off nine years for his guilty plea, which saw Sharlotte-sky’s mum walk out of court calling the sentence ‘an insult’.
The maximum sentence for death by dangerous driving was increased to life imprisonment in June. But at the time of Owen’s offence it was between seven and 14 years for the most serious cases.
Mr Gullis has also queried how Owen, aged 46, was given a full one-third reduction for his guilty plea, given the plea did not come at the earliest opportunity.
■ The debate takes place at 4pm tomorrow.