Shadow Justice Minister to lodge appeal over 'unduly lenient' sentence for double murderer
Shaine March was jailed for a minimum of 42 years on Friday after he stabbed pregnant Alana Odysseos 23 times at her home
Shadow Justice Minister Dr Kieran Mullan has lodged an appeal over the sentencing of double murderer Shaine March, which "makes a mockery of our system".
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March, 47, of Surrey Quays, London, has avoided a Whole Life Order despite being convicted of murder whilst out on licence from jail following a previous murder conviction.
He was jailed for a minimum of 42 years on Friday after he stabbed Alana Odysseos, 32, 23 times at her home in Walthamstow on 22 July, 2024.
She was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child when she died from the stab wounds.
Jurors were told that March, aged 21, fatally stabbed 17-year-old Andre Drummond in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in Denmark Hill, south London, in January 2000.
Following his release on a life licence in early 2013, he was recalled to jail later that year after he stamped on the stomach of another pregnant girlfriend in July and was released again in February 2018.
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A Whole Life Order is handed down by a judge when someone who has already been convicted of murder, murders again.
An offender given a Whole Life Order will spend the rest of their life in prison.
Dr Mullan said: "This man deserves the maximum sentence our system provides. This poor woman's family is right. I don't care how unlikely it is he will get out. That's not how it should work. His family should see a sentence that matches the crime and in this case that can only possibly be a whole life order.
"It makes a mockery of our system that someone can murder someone, carry on being a violent offender and then brutally murder someone else, a pregnant woman, and still not receive the maximum sentence. It is totally wrong."
The court was told Ms Odysseos knew about March’s murder conviction and safeguarding checks had been made by probation services.
But when the defendant said their relationship had ended amicably, no further checks were made.
Hours before killing Ms Odysseos, March had argued with about whether to abort their unborn child, with the victim heard to say: “I don’t want to kill my baby.”
Mr Justice Murray rejected calls from Ms Odysseos’s family and the prosecution for a whole life order but noted that, given his age, March may never be released.
"This case also shows why we need to abolish the use of the term 'life sentence', often mis-reported as 'jailed for life'. This example clearly illustrates it is nothing of the sort and the public are being misled again and again."