Express
April 21, 2014
The Sunday Express is campaigning for a “one-punch law” to bring in minimum eight-year jail terms for such dangerous assaults to act as a deterrent and stop courts handing out soft jail terms that deny victims’ families justice.
Patricia Harrison, 47, had to listen as a group of men started shouting at her husband Kevin while she was talking to him before his phone suddenly cut out.
The 48-year-old had been knocked unconscious by a single punch. He fell to the pavement, suffering a severe brain injury.
CCTV footage of the attack in Bedford town centre showed he was hit for accidentally bumping into a cousin of his killer Ravi Sandhu.
Patricia spent an agonising week keeping vigil at Kevin’s hospital bedside before he died from his injury.
Sandhu, 26, of Bedford, showed no remorse after being convicted of manslaughter by a jury in Luton Crown Court in April 2012.
He is likely to be released later this year after serving just half of a five-year prison sentence.
Patricia, who has moved from Bedford to Northampton, was sickened to be told the thug had applied to be moved to a cushy category D prison after just one year behind bars and has been released at weekends to prepare him for re-entering the community.
She said: “Five years is not long enough for having taken a life but if he is sentenced to five years he should at least serve five.
“I also cannot understand why he is being released at weekends to enjoy his freedom. This makes me feel like we have been cheated and that Kevin’s death did not mean that much.”