The life sentence handed to an axe murderer who bludgeoned his housemate to death will not be increased. Kieran Oldham was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of 21-year-old Liam Richardson.
Oldham bludgeoned him 18 times with an axe at a house in Rochdale. Liam had fallen on 'difficult times' and had been living with 37-year-old Oldham before he was killed.
Chilling voice recordings captured minutes before the killing revealed how Liam begged cocaine-fuelled Oldham to let him leave the house in October last year. Shortly after Oldham armed himself with an axe and launched a horrendous attack.
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After the sentence was handed down at Minshull Street Crown Court in March, it emerged that a government lawyer was asked to consider whether the jail term was 'unduly lenient'. Under the 'unduly lenient' scheme, victims of crime, members of the public, and the Crown Prosecution Service can apply to the Attorney General, the Government's chief legal adviser, if they believe the sentences imposed by a judge are too low. It is not clear who made the submission to the Attorney General's office in this case.
If the referral is deemed to have merit, the case can then be sent to the Court of Appeal where judges may decide to impose a harsher sentence. But a Government spokesperson said that after considering the case, the sentence would not be referred.
A spokesperson said: "The Solicitor General was shocked by this case and wishes to express his sympathies to the family and friends of Liam Richardson. After careful consideration the Solicitor General has concluded that this case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.
"A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.
"The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case."
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