Court of Appeal judges have ruled that a nine-year jail sentence given to the killer of a six-week-old baby was not “unduly lenient”.
At least ten complaints were made to the Attorney General’s Office about the sentence, of which Pearce is expected to serve four and a half years.
Pearce was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter. The court was told during the trial how Pearce attacked Alfie with bottles of bubble bath and hit him with a baseball boot.
He claimed he could not account for Alfie’s injuries – calling paramedics who found Alfie “blue, cold and totally lifeless”.
Alfie’s mother, Donna Sullock from Cardiff, had left him with Pearce to enjoy her first night out since giving birth last year.
The pair had become friends while she was six months pregnant, and later became a couple.
He had denied murder and manslaughter but was convicted of the lesser charge after a jury deliberated for nearly 36 hours.
On Wednesday, Sir Brian Leveson, Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing and Mr Justice William Davis, sitting at the Court of Appeal in London, upheld the sentence.