Man "snaps' and kills wife, sentenced to 5 years

[snowballer]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56109330

This is just so depressing. I understand it couldn't be shown to be premeditated and therefore murder, but how can it be such a short sentence in view of the fact she was found with keys in hand trying to escape and it wasn't therefore something that happened in the space of a few seconds? Manslaughter sentences can still be hefty - I just can't understand this. Just another devastating end of a life for a woman at the hands of a man, with another miserably short sentence for the perpetrator. Awful. Just awful.

I was watching a crime documentary about Audrey Hingston a few days ago an 82 year old women who stabbed her husband to death than whilst he lay dying rearranged the bedroom to make it appear there had been a break in and tried to frame three youths ,she also p!eaded guilty to manslaughter under diminished responsibility and was out within 12 months early 2000,s

He must have pulled together some very convincing expert witnesses to show how he had significantly diminished responsibility here. Having read the sentencing guidelines for the lowest level of responsibility sentencing start point is 7 years and so the judge must have felt that there were factors in the case that meant that even that sentence was too long. I'll be honest I can' possibly imagine what could be so compelling to overcome the fact that this guy visciously assaulted and chased his wife around the house before brutally strangling her to death. I agree that had this happens outside of a domestic setting I doubt such a lenient sentence would have been handed down.

I do hope the sentence gets referred for review.

Does anyone know if he is eligible for early release under that sentence? If so, he could be out of prison in 2 or so years. Deeply troubling. He should be allowed to live with another woman again.

*shouldn't!!!!

@NoCherryNoDeal

Think it’s pretty clear he’s trying to hide a smirk here.

It looks like he’s smirking but you have no idea when that photo was taken. Judge him for strangling his wife to death, not for how his face falls some indeterminate time later.

twitter.com/cccburysted/status/1362683211852226562?s=21

Interesting thread on this case - I would like to see the sentencing remarks because it's so hard to see how this sentence was reached.

I actually live locally to them and have heard some things (which may or may not be true).
His daughter was a character witness is trying to get him off, I suppose that helped him.
He had never been violent before and they were in a loving marriage and it was quite clear lockdown was getting to him.
He's an old man, in 5 years he may be very frail and ultimately he has to live with the guilt of killing his wife.

Sorry just to add I don't agree with the snetnce, but these are the reasons why I think it's so short.

It sounds like it’s all about him ... the judge’s comments and the reporting...since when did the concept of culprit impact statements carry more weight than victim impact statements - she’s dead ffs...
RIP

@Francescaisstressed

I actually live locally to them and have heard some things (which may or may not be true). His daughter was a character witness is trying to get him off, I suppose that helped him. He had never been violent before and they were in a loving marriage and it was quite clear lockdown was getting to him. He's an old man, in 5 years he may be very frail and ultimately he has to live with the guilt of killing his wife.

The only proof we have that he hadn't been violent before is his words though, that's the issue in these cases. The only person who would've known he was violent was murdered by him. Being "frail" is not an excuse. I have grandparents in their 80s who are perfectly capable of walking many miles, swimming etc. He wasn't too frail to strangle his wife. We were five days into lockdown and at that time we had no idea that it would stretch this long, most people were under the impression it would be a few weeks at that stage.

Given that you are local you may be aware that the prison up the road houses hundreds of "frail" rapists and paedophiles who are still capable of inflicting pain and fear on their victims.

@Francescaisstressed

I actually live locally to them and have heard some things (which may or may not be true). His daughter was a character witness is trying to get him off, I suppose that helped him. He had never been violent before and they were in a loving marriage and it was quite clear lockdown was getting to him. He's an old man, in 5 years he may be very frail and ultimately he has to live with the guilt of killing his wife.

"Lockdown was getting to him", we were 5 DAYS into lockdown when he murdered her.

One thing that is driven home in all the statistics that are being brought up is that male violence is a massive problem. Male on female and male on male, so perhaps instead of looking for ways to excuse this as just something that men do ("men are more likely to snap", etc) we should focus on getting men to acknowledge that they have a big problem within their community and need to start doing something about it!

The Secret Barrister has complained that the sentencing remarks haven’t been published in a case where public concern is so high - fortunately a local reporter who was in court has now made contact with him/her so we should know more soon.

The Diminished Responsibility defence is all about the perpetrator, not the victim or the act, that’s its intended purpose. Since the only real debate in this case is whether it applied, it’s grimly inevitable that his state of mind is the focus of reporting. It does seem like a really low sentence for the crime, and we should scrutinise the judge’s decisions closely.

It doesn’t matter if he had never been violent before.
It doesn’t matter if he is or will be frail.
It doesn’t matter if it was day 5 of lockdown.
He murdered a woman.
He took her life.
We need to stop excusing men when they murder women.

Harriet Harman and Jess Philips both calling for a sentencing review www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56122903

[quote CaveMum]Harriet Harman and Jess Philips both calling for a sentencing review www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56122903[/quote]
Good.

It will be good to see what the judges comments are. And hopefully they are under a shit ton of pressure

We are supposed to be cracking down on domestic violence, not having animals strangling their wives then saying “i didn’t mean to do it guv, it was the pressure of lockdown you see” and they get a slap on the wrist like this.

Sentencing has many purposes, not just punhsment etc, but also a deterrent, now every fucking abuser can cite this as a precedent and claim Covid made rhem do it.

He murdered his wife, he needs to get a life sentence. No discussion.

The sentence is horrific. I'd like to hear the judge's comments.
PP referred to comments retweeted by Senedd Member Helen Mary Jones... The reason she was summoned to appear in front of the judge is because she retweeted a tweet which implied (with zero evidence) that this man had a history of DV. Given that some of the jurors would likely live in her constituency, this could have seriously jepordised the case. Seriously irresponsible (as she herself has conceded.)

How lovely that he will be back to live among us in 5 years, thank you for that, I'm none none of us can wait.

@snowballer

https://twitter.com/cccburysted/status/1362683211852226562?s=21

Interesting thread on this case - I would like to see the sentencing remarks because it's so hard to see how this sentence was reached.

I'm interested to read the sentencing remarks, too.

They are often enlightening, and I often find that when I read them, I'm a lot less shocked than I was prior to reading them.

Let's face it, only those who were present for the entirety of the trial actually heard all the evidence, and relying on a few lines in the press out several days of evidence, and possibly legal argument for which the public and press will not have been present, will not give the full picture.

On the face of it, it seems shockingly low, but there may well be sound reasons for it.

Here are the sentencing guidelines the judge would have followed to come to a 5yr sentence. The applicable ones start on page 21 Manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Manslaughter-definitive-guideline-Web.pdf

From the table, we can see the court must have determined that Antony Williams had a lower level of responsibility due to mental disorder at the time. This then has a range of 3-12yr prison sentences, with a starting point of 7 years.

Following that table is a list of aggravating factors that would push the sentence above 7yrs or mitigating factors that would push the sentence below 7yrs.

After that are more steps that must take into consideration psychiatric factors, dangerousness, help to prosecution, etc. all of which can also adjust the sentence length up or down.

One would hope these guidelines were followed and there is good reason why the usual 7yr sentence was reduced by 2yrs.

One would hope these guidelines were followed and there is good reason why the usual 7yr sentence was reduced by 2yrs

Well it will be reviewed by the attorney general and I’d bet good money his sentence increased. Or if he is so ill he kills then he should Have a life in a high security mental institute.

Also of note in this case is the method of the killing. He strangled her to death. Thanks to TV shows and movies a lot of people believe that you can strangle someone to death in under a minute but in reality it most often takes longer than that, so you have to keep up enough force to close their airway for longer than the time it takes for them to lose consciouness and then die. I'm sorry but this isn't a case of thumping someone over the head and accidentally breaking their neck, if you crush someone's throat with your hand you intend to do them in. Utter thug.

What happens if the attorney general changes the sentence, is the judge held accountable for what they did? Because that’s someone not fit to be a judge in my opinion.

I wonder what gender they were too.

The AG doesn’t change the sentence. They decide if it should be referred to the Court of Appeal for review. If it goes to the CoA then they can decide if the sentence needs changing. They will give reasons for their decision.

I and several others on FWR have also requested a review by the AG. It only takes one referral to trigger a review.

It’s obscene. Absolutely sickening. Where do they get these fucking judges from. How dare he put this woman’s life so cheap. Is that meant to be some kind of justification, that he “snapped”? It’s a bregrudged sentence imo, the judge would probably have just rather set him free.

It may seem that way, but men statistically snap and kill other men twice as often than they snap and kill women. Men are 69% of homicide victims and women are 31%. About half of all homicides occur due to rage from an argument or as a revenge attack.

Oh here we go with the whataboutdamenz. The point is that, yes, men are more likely to kill other men. But that women are more likely to be killed by men, and the men they are more likely to be killed by are known to them and often a partner or ex-partner. That is the point. There is scope within the justice system to have harsher sentencing for particular types of crime to acknowledge that it is an ill in our society.

And pp saying up there "lockdown was getting to all of us"? Boil your head, it was 5 days into lockdown.

Lots of people bending over backwards to defend a wife killer, can you imagine strangling someone who is trying to fight back? Putting your hands round their neck and "choking the life out of them"? REALLY? CAN YOU?

@bloomingroses

It’s obscene. Absolutely sickening. Where do they get these fucking judges from. How dare he put this woman’s life so cheap. Is that meant to be some kind of justification, that he “snapped”? It’s a bregrudged sentence imo, the judge would probably have just rather set him free.

Agree, what gets me is nearly everyone who kills is in some way mentally unwell.

If this man is so so ill he kills and can’t help it, he should be in a secure mental facility for the rest of his days, because who knows when he will snap next.

If he’s not so ill that he needs a secure mental institution then he should have been given life.

What he can’t get is a reduced sentence and well he’s ill and so ill it made him brutally kill, but he’s not so ill he is a risk of doing it again and needs a secure mental health unit.

The judge can’t have it both ways.