Blackpool MP calls for greater rights for victims’ families

An MP has raised the case of a young woman from Blackpool who was murdered in 2013, calling for more rights for victims’ families.

Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, Lorraine Beavers, said families of victims needed “fairer access to sentencing appeals”, citing the murder of 16-year-old Sasha Marsden by David Minto.

Minto, who killed the teenager in a frenzied knife attack, was given a life sentence in 2013, but could still be released on licence after serving a minimum term.

Beaver was speaking on behalf of Ms Marsden’s sister, Katie Brett – her constituent – and a member of the group Justice for Victims, who campaign for tougher sentencing for violent and sexual criminals.

Speaking in the Commons, Beavers urged the government to ensure killers did not ultimately end up with greater rights than their victims, or their families.

“Sasha Marsden was 16 years old when she was murdered – raped and then set on fire by David Minto.

“Sasha’s sister, Katie – who is my constituent and who joins us today – is campaigning for victims’ families to have fairer access to sentencing appeals.

“Despite the need for closure in sentencing, perpetrators are given multiple appeal opportunities, while victims’ families have just one chance.

“What will the Government do to ensure that victims’ families do not have fewer rights than perpetrators in this process?”

Responding to her colleague, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for victims, Alex Davies-Jones, said the government was “determined to put victims at the heart of the criminal justice system”.

“I have had the extreme honour of meeting Katie, both this morning, and previously, to discuss Sasha’s law and her campaigning on it.

“I am determined to work with her and all the other Justice for Victims families to ensure that we get this right.

“The Victims and Courts Bill is currently moving through Parliament, and I am determined that we do all we can to support victims.”

A person handed a life sentence can be released from prison on licence after serving a minimum term, but a whole life order means a person can never be released, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances.

Minto, then 23, was sentenced to life with a minimum 35-year term in 2013 for murdering Ms Marsden, whom he had lured to a hotel in Blackpool run by his girlfriend’s mother, with the promise of a job.

He sexually assaulted the teenager, and then stabbed her so ferociously her body had to be identified by DNA from her toothbrush.

At his sentencing, Judge Anthony Russell, told the perpetrator there was “not a shred of common humanity in you”.

Speaking in March this year, Ms Brett told BBC Breakfast: “If we were allowed to appeal his sentence and he [Minto] was given a whole life order, we would have the reassurance as a family that one day he is not going to get out – he’s not going to kill somebody else.”