ayne couzens will still die in prison after losing his bid to reduce his sentence at the Court of Appeals.
In May, senior judges heard objections or appeals to the prison terms of five convicted murderers, including the life sentences of former police officer Couzens and double murderer Ian Stewart.
Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes, who murdered six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, were also reviewed, along with triple murderer Jordan Monaghan.
On Friday, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and four other judges declined to reduce Couzens of Tustin’s sentences, while increasing the sentence of Hughes, Arthur’s father, and reducing Stewart’s.
Couzens, 49, was sentenced to life last year for the rape and murder of the 33-year-old Sarah Everardthe first time the sentence had been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed during a terrorist attack.
Couzens’ lawyers appealed the life sentence, claiming he deserved “decades of years in prison,” but said a life sentence was excessive.
However, the judges refused to change his sentence.
In the verdict, Lord Burnett said the case involved “inexpressibly stark details” and that Couzens “had tried to minimize his true responsibility from the moment he first spoke to police”.
He continued: “This was, as the judge said, a distorted, selfish and brutal offense, which was both sexual and murderous.
“It was a case with unique and extremely aggravating properties.
“The most important of these, as the judge rightly found, was Couzens’ grotesque abuse of his position as a police officer, and all that entails, to facilitate the kidnapping, rape and murder of Mrs. Everard.”
Lord Burnett said the seriousness of the case was “so exceptionally high that a lifetime order rather than a minimum term order should be made”.
He continued, “It provides for its unique and defining feature, which is that Couzens had used his knowledge and status as a police officer to commit his heinous crimes against Ms. Everard and for the elaborate and extreme nature of the other aggravating features that were present: the significant and cold-blooded planning and premeditation; the kidnapping of Mrs. Everard; the most serious sexual behavior; the mental and physical suffering Mrs Everard suffered before her death; and the concealment and attempts to destroy Mrs. Everard’s body.
“We agree with the judge that, given the abuse of Couzens’ role as a police officer and the serious aggravating features of insulting the IOUs, the conviction did not affect the outcome.
Lord Burnett, sitting with Dame Victoria Sharp, Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Johnson, said that as of March 31, 2022, there were 59 prisoners serving life sentences, including Couzens and Stewart.
Also, in reviewing the sentences of Arthur’s killers, the Court of Appeal was told that the child suffered a catastrophic brain injury while in the care of Tustin, who was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 29 years for his murder.
Tustin contested the length of her sentence for two admitted counts of child abuse, while Arthur’s father, Hughes, who was sentenced to 21 years for manslaughter, appealed his verdict.
Both sentences for killing Arthur were challenged as overly lenient.
The judges declined to change Tustin’s sentence, saying she would not receive a life sentence, but Hughes’ sentence was found too lenient and was increased to 24 years.
Double murderer Stewart, 61, who killed his first wife six years before going to kill his fiancée, successfully appealed his life sentence.
In a ruling on Friday, Lord Burnett and the four other judges said Stewart was not a case requiring a life sentence, reducing his sentence to life with a minimum term of 35 years.
Judges also reviewed Jordan Monaghan’s sentence, who was given a 40-year minimum term Preston Crown Court after killing two of his children and his new partner.
The court heard earlier that between January 2013 and October 2016 he killed three-week-old Ruby and 21-month-old Logan before he killed Evie Adams.
In Friday’s ruling, the judges ruled that while a life sentence cannot be imposed, the sentence should be increased to life with a minimum term of 48 years.