Louise Smith's mother launches bid to increase Leigh Park killer Shane Mays' murder sentence

Louise’s mother Rebbecca Cooper told The News she felt ‘sick to her stomach’ that Mays, 30, could be released in less than 25 years – the minimum term imposed on his life sentence.

Mays was jailed in December at Winchester Crown Court after being found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Louise on May 8 at Havant Thicket, burning and defiling her body.

She was found dead 13 days later, with her phone thrown away nearby. Louise had been living with the defendant, her aunt Chazylnn Mays’ husband, at Ringwood House in Somborne Drive, Leigh Park.

Rebbecca told The News: ‘I didn't know I could appeal but I have appealed.

‘I think 25 (years) is disgusting. Nothing good enough but the thought of… 25 years he could get out and do anything makes me feel sick to my stomach.’

The Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that the Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC has referred the case.

A spokesman said: ‘The Solicitor General was shocked by this horrific attack and wishes to express his deepest sympathies to the victim’s family.

‘The Solicitor has referred the sentence of Shane Mays to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme as he considers it to be too low.’

Anyone can apply to the Attorney General’s Office for a sentence to be reviewed in certain cases as part of the unduly lenient scheme.

Lawyers for the attorney general, Fareham MP Suella Braverman QC, can then take the case to the Court of Appeal where senior judges review the sentence.

Appeal judges could then decide if the term should remain the same, increase it if it is found lenient, or refuse to hear the case.

When sentencing last month, Mrs Justice Juliet May said: ‘Louise was particularly vulnerable because of her youth, her lack of any stable home and her anxiety and depression manifesting in self-harm.

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‘Even if Louise was rendered unconscious early in the attack by Shane Mays, she would nevertheless have experienced intense mental and physical suffering at his hands whilst conscious.

‘Shane Mays was in a position of trust in relation to Louise; I sentence on the basis that theirs was like a father/daughter relationship, as he said at trial.

‘That being so, in killing her he committed the most gross abuse of trust.’

The only mitigating factors were, the judge said, that Mays had no previous and there was ‘limited’ mitigation in Mays having an IQ of 63.

She said: ‘I am quite satisfied that, in those moments in the clearing when he attacked her, Shane Mays intended to kill Louise.’

Mays was handed a life term with a 25-year term minimum, less 194 days on remand. He could serve longer, depending on when the Parole Board releases him.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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