Ellie Gould *Title edited by GNHQ*

I think he needs a psychiatric assessment as no normal person does this.And a longer term of imprisonment.

Do you mean Ellie Gould Calendargirl?

A 'life sentence' for Griffiths which is apparently 12+ years, but a proper life sentence for her poor family.

Yes, thank you Callistemon had just realised in my agitation had got the wrong name!

I cried at the news tonight. A lovely young girl with her life ahead of her. Poor poor mother having to live with this.
How is twelve years a life sentence? This is not justice. In any case this young man is a danger and should never be freed..

I think it was a lesser sentence because he pleaded guilty.

Goodness, this gave me a shock! Could the thread title be changed?

Treebee

Sorry to shock you. Don’t know if a thread title can be changed?

Thread titles an be edited. Email HQ - it sort of feels disrespectful her name being incorrect - I’m sure HQ will change it

Best thing to do would be to report your OP and say what you want changing and why

If they can take out swear words I'm sure they can alter a surname.

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I have messaged HQ to try and sort out my error.

Sincere apologies for upsetting anyone, an idiotic slip on my part.

I think the 12 year sentence is the maximum that can be given due to his age. He was 17 when he committed this horrendous murder.

Beautiful young girl with her life ahead of her.

Her poor parents

I wouldn’t like to be his parents either. Imagine knowing your son had done something like that

It is a terribly sad case, and yes, both sets of parents have lost children and must be traumatised.

I don't think that a recommendation of 12 years means that he will necessarily get out then. It means that he can apply for parole, which may or may not be granted. If it is, it means that a very disturbed young man has somehow managed to turn his life around in jail, which will be extremely difficult fot him to do.

How could he ever be trusted not to do this again?

So incredibly sad for both families.

annepl Obviously I have no idea about whether this particular person can be trusted to do (or not do) anything. But I don't think that doing something once necessarily means that doing it again is inevitable.

I also think that children (and legally he was a child at the time of the murder) should be given a chance to rehabilitate and make a new start.

He may never leave jail, and if he doesn't that will be because psychologists/psychiatrists have decided that he is still dangerous, but I don't think that we can make any kind of prediction about that from behind our keyboards, unless we are also fully qualified in criminal psychology.

When I saw her poor mother and grandmother on television I felt I wanted to sob with them. Evey day must be hell for them. What else can we say?

We can't predict. I believe rehabilitation is an important part of a prison sentence. Doesn't work in a lot of cases but if it works in some then its worth trying. Recidivism is high, although not with murder convictions. But it does happen. If it can't be guaranteed 100% that someone won't murder again they shouldn't be released.
And some murders are so vicious that I believe punishment should be much more severe than it is at present. Victims need justice.