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.

The bar is set quite high for successfully pleading diminished responsibility. He will have had to undergo psychiatric examinations. Unless this case wasn’t handled properly in which case the sentence should be appealed.

@thecatsatonthewall

Not surprised, my mum was beaten black and blue by my father, in the divorce court he threatened to kill her, nothing was done, he emigrated and we never saw him again.

Now that was many years ago but a friend of mine was attacked with a heavy object, held under water, beaten up and raped.
The police never took any action, despite these attacks taking place several times.
Some of her neighbours even said "she must have drove him too it"
BUT after she left him, he came round, they had a verbal argument in which she asked him to go, he refused and she spat in his face - she spent 24hrs in the cells and got a caution.

All this happened in the early 2000's, nothing has changed.

A very sad example of how we haven't come as far as society thinks we have.

And that's because society is still very male dominated in opinion.

Harriet Harman has tweeted that she has referred this to Attorney General for review:

I have today referred the 5 year sentence of Anthony Williams for killing his wife Ruth Williams to the Attorney General
@SuellaBraverman asking for her to refer it for review as an Unduly Lenient Sentence

Good for her.

HH has taken some flak for referring to the AG on the basis of a couple of flimsy news reports but to be fair to her it’s not as if there was any better information available. As so often I want to hear what Keir Starmer thinks, but he never comments on these cases for reasons I suppose I understand. Apart from anything else he could probably phone up a mate and get the behind the scenes details.

Other mps are now joining Harriet, she’s not standing alone in this referral.

And a referral is just that, if the sentence is correct it won’t be changed and the judge doesn’t need to be worried.

I’d bet good money it is changed though.

And I don’t know why Keir stammer doesn’t comment. But to be fair, he comments on very little so nothing new here.

I think Keir Starmer would have to be absolutely hot on top of the trial report before commenting.

He's a lawyer so needs to have extra caution.

Same way the AG shouldn't have made a comment re Cummings last year.

KS is still a regulated barrister I believe, not just a politician like many others. This may be the reason why.

@MasterBeth

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.

Looks like a mugshot and is stamped Gwent Police.

If he "snapped" at work and murdered his straight, white male boss would be have got 5 years?

I think the answer to this is sadly unlikely... how do judges justify sentences like this in 2021??

[quote NoCherryNoDeal]@MasterBeth

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.

Looks like a mugshot and is stamped Gwent Police.[/quote]
Well, yeah, I can see it’s a mugshot. And yet I still don’t know how soon after his arrest it was taken, what was said to him immediately before it or how or why his face fell in that particular way at the moment it was taken. Do you?

(I am definite he strangled his wife to death, though, which somehow seems more significant.)

Just written to the attorney general, I'm sure many other have too.

@Bluntness100
The judge, Paul Thomas.....
So yes, it would appear the judge was a man.

Same judge, could easily have resulted in the woman's death too, less than one year sentence..

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/daniel-davies-port-tennant-jailed-19763934

And this guy had previous convictions.

So none of this "gentle giant" get out clause.

"Judge Paul Thomas QC said Davies' behaviour towards partners was concerning."

CONCERNING???!!!

Not abohorrent or a thousand other words, but...concerning.

I would love for Judges to have to release their reasons for their sentencing decisions for public scrutiny. Even if it never changed anything at least we'd know "how they think"

My point is that you get the general 'he's a nice man, his daughter didn't want a harsh sentence etc' trotted out and that people think it's harsh because he's old.

The same reason we don't let the parents of dead children sentence their killers is the same reason his daughter's opinion to be taken into account at all. (unless she made a victim impact statement in which case, on behalf of battered women anywhere, she should take a good, long look at herself)

@marinaloves
When I was just about to leave after having treatment in hospital my Consultant said "My next patient is a woman who's husband is a High Court Judge - and he beats her"........
Makes you think doesn't it?

Brefugee. They do normally publish sentencing remarks.

Yeah I had a bad feeling it was a male judge. and seems he’s got previous for not being overly concerned about violence to women. 63 years old.

Hopefully it’s ultimately decided this is an overly lenient sentance and then they look at the rest of his Sentancing behaviour and if he’s fit to hold office,

@MasterBeth

(I am definite he strangled his wife to death, though, which somehow seems more significant.)

So why are argue about this?

@purpleboy

Just written to the attorney general, I'm sure many other have too.

Good luck with a reply.

She's my MP. She liable and chooses who she replies to and what about.

Although iirc she's on maternity now and the AG will be someone else. The only good that woman's ever done in my eyes was getting good maternity support for woman in her sector.

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

Instead of comparing how many males and females men kill, it would be interesting to know of the women killed, how many are killed by men and how many by women.

Some of the judge's sentencing remarks have now been included here in the Secret Barrister's analysis of the sentence. It's an interesting read.

thesecretbarrister.com/2021/02/20/how-can-a-5-year-prison-sentence-ever-reflect-the-intentional-taking-of-a-life/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

The short summary of what he/she says is that the sentence appears to be justified in law and followed the sentence guidelines, based on the verdict that the jury reached. As none of us were privy to the hours of evidence the jury heard, we can't comment on the verdict. Whether the sentence guidelines are fit for purpose or not is another matter.

Further summary of the 5 year point specifically - the judge started at 7.5 years (lower end, 7 year starting point with 0.5 added as aggravating factor for prolonged attack), which was reduced by 1/3 to 5 years to take account of pleading guilty at earliest opportunity to do so.

I agree with Harriet Harman's point about the outcome being very different if he had chased a stranger down the street and strangled them, instead of his wife, but why is his wife's death judged to be somehow less of a crime?