Man Sentenced to Whole-Life Order for Murder of Pregnant Girlfriend
A man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend after being released from prison on licence has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in jail, following a court of appeal ruling that the original 42-year sentence was "too lenient".
Alana Odysseos, aged 32, was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child when she was fatally stabbed by Shaine March last July at her home in Walthamstow, east London. She died at the scene from 23 slash and stab wounds.
March had been released from prison on a life licence in 2013 after previously fatally stabbing Andre Drummond, 17, in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in south London in January 2000.
In October last year, March was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 42 years. However, the solicitor general referred this sentence to the court of appeal, where barristers argued during a hearing on Thursday that March should have received a whole-life order, meaning he would never be released.
March, now 48, challenged the length of his sentence, with his legal team claiming it was "manifestly excessive".
Court of Appeal Decision
In their ruling, Lord Justice Edis, sitting alongside Mr Justice Cavanagh and Judge Alice Robinson, stated:
"The sentence was unduly lenient. We quash it, and we quash the minimum term order that the judge made, and substitute in its place a whole-life order, which means that the offender will never be released."
During a video link from HMP Belmarsh, March expressed remorse to members of Odysseos’ family, stating:
"I just want to say that I am sorry."
Odysseos was one of the women whose deaths were included in ’s femicide project, which highlights the toll and tragedy of femicide in the UK. She was described as a "brilliant mother" who "completely doted" on her daughters.
Trial Details and Background
At the Old Bailey trial last year, jurors were not informed that March had a prior murder conviction.
Tom Little KC, representing the solicitor general, informed the court in written submissions that March and Odysseos had argued about her pregnancy. In the final hours before the murder, she was heard saying:
"I don’t want to kill my baby,"
The court was told that she was later seen outside the property clutching her right side.
Bleeding from multiple stab wounds, she pointed at March, who was nearby, and shouted:
"Shaine stabbed me, he stabbed me. Help, help."
When sentencing March last year, Mr Justice Murray noted that the murder involved "prolonged and excessive violence" but did not consider the case one where "the need for lifelong imprisonment is clear beyond doubt".
He based this decision on four factors, including that March had suffered a traumatic brain injury as a teenager, which affected his emotional regulation, and that both murders appeared to be "spontaneous".
Arguments for Whole-Life Order
During the court of appeal hearing, Little argued that a whole-life order was "just punishment" and highlighted a "constellation of aggravating features" in the case.
He stated in court:
"Properly analysed, this case should never have left the categorisation as a whole-life order case."
