Murderer loses appeal over throttling sentence
A CONVICTED murderer jailed for at least 20 years after trying to throttle a fellow prisoner has lost an appeal against his minimum term.
Malcolm Scott McMahon was behind bars at Gartree Prison, Harborough, when he tried to kill 27-year-old Matthew Winfield with a ligature, London’s Court of Appeal heard on Wednesday last week.
In August last year, 26-year-old McMahon was convicted of attempted murder at Leicester Crown Court and jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.
The sentence effectively added another 11-and-a-half years to the eight-and-a-half years he still had left to serve for the earlier murder.
Last week, his lawyers argued that was too tough, but saw their case rejected by the country’s most senior judge, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge.
Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Holman and Mr Justice Openshaw, told the court McMahon and his victim had a prior disagreement but appeared to have made up.
However, McMahon, branded “exceptionally dangerous” by the crown court judge, used the planned return of a borrowed TV set to get Mr Winfield into his cell on July 18, 2009.
When Mr Winfield turned his back to pick up the TV, McMahon closed the cell door, put a ligature made of tape and torn cloth around his neck and throttled him.
Thinking the murder attempt successful, he left Mr Winfield on the floor to be found by prison officers.
In his appeal, McMahon’s lawyers argued the 20-year minimum resulted in too long being added to the years still remaining on his previous sentence.
Rejecting the appeal, Lord Judge said: “This was plainly an intention to kill and premeditated. The appellant thought it had been a successful attempt at killing and, when he stopped and let go of the ligature, he left the victim lying unconscious on the ground for dead.
“It is a matter of good fortune that the victim appears to have made a good physical recovery. This man was within a few seconds of death.
“We have examined the submission that the impact of the sentence, in the context of the existing term, is too long.
“For such an attack by a prisoner already guilty of murder on a fellow prisoner in prison, in circumstances where the killing is planned, we do not think that the 20-year minimum term imposed as a concurrent sentence to the sentence already being served is excessive.”
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Monday 21 May 2012
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