Gosport baby death: MP '˜disappointed' with decision not to extend jail terms

Roxanne Davis, 30, and Samuel Davies, 24, were thrown behind bars for 10 years each in December after a trial at Winchester Crown Court when they were both found guilty of causing or allowing death of baby Stanley.

But the despicable duo could have faced up to 14-year prison terms each following their harrowing abuse of the baby, who died after suffering 32 gruesome fractures to his ribs and nine fractures to his arms and legs during three separate occasions at their Garland Court flat in Gosport during March 2017.

The shocking injuries caused to baby Stanley and subsequent prison terms sparked a public outcry that led to an online petition signed by 15,500 people calling for their sentences to be increased.  

Ms Dinenage, who wrote to the Attorney General asking for the jail terms to be reviewed. But after a decision not to increase the sentences, the MP admitted she was '˜disappointed'.

She said: '˜I'm extremely disappointed, local people have been rightly horrified by this brutal, distressing case. I'm still of the opinion that both in general and in this specific case, the maximum sentence is far too low and I will continue to make that argument.' 

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said: '˜A referral under the unduly lenient sentencing 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 spokesperson added: '˜The threshold is a high one and the test was not met in these cases.'

During sentencing judge Jane Miller QC said both were equally responsible for the death of Stanley after it was impossible to know who inflicted the final blow. She also told the jury they had made '˜absolutely the right decision' in finding the pair both guilty after the five week trial.