Sister of murdered Sasha Marsden calls for removal of time limit to appeal lenient jail sentences

The sister of a teenage girl who was brutally murdered 11 years ago has launched a petition to remove the 28-day time limit to launch an appeal against a murder sentence under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.

Katie Brett is trying for the fourth time to raise 100,000 signatures in support of her campaign so that the matter will be debated in parliament.

Her sister, college student Sasha Marsden, was stabbed dozens of times with a kitchen knife by hotel barman David Minto, who had lured her to a hotel in Blackpool under the false promise of a job interview, in January 2013.

Sasha, 16, suffered more than 100 injuries and was sexually assaulted in the attack. Her body was also set on fire.

Minto, from Fleetwood, was jailed for 35 years at Preston Crown Court but was not given a whole life term, so he will be eligible for parole in 2048, when he will be 57.

Katie told The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee that along with her mother, Jayne Marsden, who died in March aged 56, Sasha’s family did not know the length of Minto’s sentence could be appealed against and were not told.

She said they focused on the verdict and the days after the trial were “a blur”, as they tried to support each other and deal with what had happened to Sasha.

28-day deadline

The ULS scheme allows anyone to ask for certain sentences to be looked at by the Attorney General’s Office, who will then refer it to the Court of Appeal if they think it is not tough enough.

But a referral to the Court of Appeal has to be made within 28 days of the date of sentence, and Katie said that doesn’t account for the grieving period.

She said there shouldn’t be a time limit, as “if grief has a time limit, then put a time limit on it”.

Asked why people should consider signing her petition, Katie said if Minto is released from prison in more than 20 years, “he could be sitting next to your daughter on a bus”.

‘Cannot be rehabilitated’

“He goes for young, vulnerable people. His next victim may not be born yet. It may not be your family this time, but David Minto will attack somebody again,” Katie said.

Minto “cannot be rehabilitated”, she said. “What he did was pure evil”, she added.

Katie said what she saw during the trial still haunts her, as “you’ve got these images in your head, you can’t get them out”.

“I used to have dreams that I was there in the hotel [and] because it was described in such detail, I knew what happened”, she added.

“I’m there and I can’t help her. You feel such a failure, so helpless… you didn’t protect them and it was your job to protect them. And you’ve got to carry on living when you’ve failed in your job to protect your daughter and protect your sister.”