First published on Fri 19 Feb 2021 08.33 EST
The attorney general is under increasing pressure from MPs and campaigners to ask the court of appeal to reconsider the sentence of a man who strangled his wife days into the first coronavirus lockdown.
Anthony Williams, 70, was sentenced to five years in jail at Swansea crown court on Thursday after he was found not guilty of murder but admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. The judge, Paul Thomas, said it was a “tragic case on several levels” but in his view Williams’ mental state was “severely affected at the time”.
The Labour MP Harriet Harman said on Friday that she would write to the attorney general for England and Wales, Suella Braverman, to ask her to refer the case to appeal as an unduly lenient sentence. Fellow Labour MP Jess Phillips said she would join calls for the sentence to be reviewed.