The killer of Jake Sweeney, who died after being punched from behind while breaking up a fight, will not serve more than four years in prison, the Attorney General’s Office has confirmed.
Mr Sweeney’s father, Mark Sweeney, asked the Attorney General to rule the four year sentence given to Jason Grovell, 24, for manslaughter unduly lenient and refer it to the Court of Appeal for review.
Over 3,000 people signed a petition to the same effect, but Robert Buckland QC MP ruled the Court of Appeal would not lengthen it.
Jake Sweeney, 26, was out with friends in Caerphilly town on August 24 when he was punched in the head by Grovell and hit his head on the pavement, cracking his skull.
He died at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff four days later.
His father told Caerphilly Observer at the time that the sentence was a “kick in the teeth”.
He said: “In court we heard he was high on cocaine, we saw all the CCTV evidence. We saw that Jake wasn’t involved at all and Grovell was basically skirting around the group looking for someone to hit. Jake happened to be that person.
“We didn’t know that he glorified it. That he was bouncing around like a boxer afterwards and that he said ‘boom’.
“The judge described it as a cowardly act, so for him to just get four years, and possibly be out in two, is totally inadequate. I don’t think the punishment fits the crime.”
An Attorney General’s Office spokesperson said: “The Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP offers his sincerest condolences to the family of Jake Sweeney.
“He considered the sentence of Jason Grovell personally, taking into account all the relevant factors in the case, including the comments by the sentencing judge, and after careful deliberation he decided that the Court of Appeal would not find the sentence to be unduly lenient, and therefore would decline to increase it.”
There are no formal sentencing guidelines for manslaughter cases, but the Sentencing Council will review this with a public consultation.
Previously the former Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, asked the Court of Appeal to consider the sentence handed to Lewis Gill for the manslaughter of Andrew Young.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the sentence of four years was not unduly lenient and declined to increase it.
That is personally DISGUSTING , HE DESERVES TO ROT !
that is simply a disgrace to jakes family,that sentence was without a doubt unduly leniant as him grovell showed no remorse watsoever..!
This is to be expected with left-wing, liberal-orientated ‘restorative justice’ taking over (I blame Labour for improving prison conditions in the late 90’s/early 2000’s) We need to return to the times of harsh punishments in terrible prison conditions. The current sentences stem from political ideologies, nothing else.
I think the key message here is: “Vote Labour, get extremely lenient prison sentences.” Then again, the COnservatives haven’t exactly reversed the process.