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Carl Mills, who murdered family in Cwmbran fire, has jail term increased | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A man who murdered three generations of a family in a fire, including his six-month old baby on her first night home from hospital, has had his jail term increased to 35 years. | |
Carl Mills's 30-year minimum sentence was increased by Court of Appeal judges in London on Tuesday. | Carl Mills's 30-year minimum sentence was increased by Court of Appeal judges in London on Tuesday. |
Kim Buckley, 46, her daughter Kayleigh, 17, and granddaughter Kimberley died in last year's fire in Cwmbran, Torfaen. | |
The Solicitor General said he hoped the increase reassured the public. | |
Oliver Heald QC, who referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal for review, said: "It is hard to overstate the seriousness of this crime. | |
"Carl Mills murdered three generations of the same family, leaving a chasm of grief. | |
"I asked the Court of Appeal to look again at this sentence, as despite it being a life sentence with a term of 30 years minimum, the fact remains that Mills denied having set the fire and maintained that stance at trial. | |
"I am thankful that the Court of Appeal has today increased his minimum term to 35 years and I can only hope this offers some degree of reassurance to the public." | |
In the early hours of 18 September last year, 29-year-old Mills, originally from Manchester, set fire to a recycling bin in the porch of the family's house on the Coed Eva estate. | |
Neighbours had tried to rescue the family but were beaten back by flames. | |
During the trial in the summer, the judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams told Mills he had condemned the family to "an agonising death" and had shown no remorse. | During the trial in the summer, the judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams told Mills he had condemned the family to "an agonising death" and had shown no remorse. |
Mills had started the fire because he wrongly believed another man was in the house, the court had been told. | Mills had started the fire because he wrongly believed another man was in the house, the court had been told. |
He had sent a barrage of abusive texts to Kayleigh in the hours and days leading to the blaze in which he repeatedly threatened to murder her, their baby and burn down the house. | He had sent a barrage of abusive texts to Kayleigh in the hours and days leading to the blaze in which he repeatedly threatened to murder her, their baby and burn down the house. |
Mills, described by the trial judge in court as "despicable", resented the attention Kayleigh gave to their daughter. | |
Kimberley, who had been born 15 weeks prematurely and was blind and deaf, had only been released from hospital the previous afternoon after spending her first six months in a neo-natal unit. | |
In resentencing Mills on Tuesday, Lord Thomas said there were a number of "serious" aggravating factors in the case. | |
It was evident, he said, that "the murders of the three members of the family took place against a background of controlling and abusive behaviour by the offender". | |
Threats were made "over a period of time and on the day in question". | |
He added: "The killing was carried out by a fire which was deliberately set at the home of the family whom the offender must have known were asleep and in bed. | |
"The infant was totally helpless and vulnerable. | |
"It is also important to bear in mind that it was his own child that was killed by him." | |
Lord Thomas said it was clear that a "serious degree of pain and suffering" had been inflicted on Ms Buckley and Kayleigh before they died. | |
He said: "The evidence of the neighbours, which speaks of them shouting and appreciating the position they were in, shows that they must have been burnt to death." |