The Five Demands

Wootton term to be sent to appeal court (UTV)
A 14-year jail term handed to one of the killers of Constable Stephen Carroll is set to be referred to the Court of Appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Barra McGrory QC has been considering whether the sentence should be referred on the grounds of undue leniency, after the victim’s widow Kate Carroll expressed disgust and said 14 years was no deterrent to others.
“Careful consideration is being given to the terms of the reference which will be made within the statutory 28 days,” a Public Prosecution Service spokeswoman said.
The move comes after the judge who presided over the murder trial clarified the reasons behind his handing down of the minimum tariff to 21-year-old John Paul Wootton, while stating that the existing guidelines need “reconsideration”.
Wootton received the 14-year minimum tariff from Lord Justice Girvan, as both he and accomplice Brendan McConville were sentenced over the fatal 2009 dissident shooting in Craigavon.
McConville was handed a minimum term of 25 years for the murder of Constable Carroll, receiving a longer sentence in part because of Wootton’s youth – he was just 17 at the time of the fatal gun attack.
On Thursday, Lord Justice Girvan said he was “bound and obligated” to operate within a framework which laid down “special rules” for sentencing anyone aged under 18 at the time of committing a murder.
“The accused Wootton fell within that provision. Those guidelines have been the subject matter of a large number of judicial rulings to which a sentencing judge is bound to pay regard,” the judge said.
Trial judges are not free to act in accordance with their own unfettered viewpoint.
Lord Justice Girvan
But Lord Justice Girvan did question whether it may be appropriate for the Court of Appeal to look at whether the guidelines should be “revisited in the light of current conditions”.
He added: “However, such a review can only be carried out by the Court of Appeal – not a trial judge at first instance.
“It is open to the Director of Public Prosecutions to refer the matter to the Court of Appeal – this is the only permissible route whereby the guidelines can be reviewed.”
Lord Justice Girvan also said that, as the trial judge, he felt bound to express the view that such reconsideration was needed, to “take account of modern conditions and to properly take into account the argument that there is a heightened need for deterrence and retribution in the fixing of tariffs – at least in relation to certain categories of murder including, in particular, the terrorist murder of a police officer as occurred in the present case.”
Disgust was expressed by the victim’s widow Kate Carroll, who felt that 14 years was no deterrent to others.
“John Paul Wootton was man enough to go out and do the crime and he was defiant enough to sit in the dock and wave to all the people in the gallery,” she told UTV. “He knew exactly what he was doing.”