Court of appeal to review Blackburn killer's sentence
Jordan Monaghan was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 40 years back in December
A man from Blackburn is going to have his prison sentence reviewed later at the Court of Appeal.
31-year-old Jordan Monaghan was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 40 years back in December last year after being found guilty of the murder of his two young children and his partner.
During the 10-week trial, the jury heard how he smothered his children, eight months apart from each other and 6 years later gave his new partner an overdose of drugs, killing her.
He was found guilty of three murders and jailed, but the Attorney General's Office suggested the sentence may be too lenient and referred the case to the court of appeal.
Today (4th May), senior judges will hear challenges or appeals to the prison sentences of five killers, including the whole-life terms of disgraced former police officer Wayne Couzens, who was handed a whole-life term last year for the rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard.
Sentencing Couzens, Lord Justice Fulford said the circumstances of the case were "devastating, tragic and wholly brutal" and were so exceptional that it warranted a whole-life order.
It was the first time the sentence had been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed in the course of a terror attack.
The special court of five judges will consider how whole-life orders are imposed.
The hearing before the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Dame Victoria Sharp, Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Johnson is due to start on Wednesday at 10.30am.
The five judges are expected to give their decisions at a later date.