"Shaine March was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years for fatally stabbing his pregnant girlfriend Alana Odysseos in east London. Following the sentencing, the Solicitor General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, claiming it should be increased to a whole life order."
"The Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme allows sentences to be referred to the Court of Appeal if Government law officers consider them potentially unduly lenient. Any person or institution can request a review of any sentence handed down in a Crown Court."
"The test for whether a case is referred is high. A sentence can only be deemed unduly lenient if it falls outside the range of sentences considered reasonably appropriate for the sentencing judge to hand down, based on the facts and evidence of the case."
"If the sentence is deemed unduly lenient, the original sentence is quashed, and a new sentence is substituted. The judges cannot examine or change the offences for which the defendant was sentenced and cannot look at any new evidence related to the case."
Shaine March, a double murderer, has been sentenced to a whole life order after judges found his previous sentence unduly lenient. Initially sentenced to life with a minimum of 42 years for killing his pregnant girlfriend, Alana Odysseos, March was on life licence for a prior murder. The Solicitor General referred the case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, which allows for sentence reviews if deemed excessively lenient. The Court of Appeal assesses whether the original sentence was appropriate based on the evidence available at sentencing.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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