Springburn murder pair have sentence cut

Appeal judges have cut the punishment parts of the life sentences given to two men who murdered a stranger heading home from a church service.

Daniel Kinlan,19 and Darren Boland ,20, left Ajani Tella "severely disabled" with severe head injuries after attacking him in the street in Springburn, Glasgow, in August 2015.

The pair initially plead guilty to attempted murder and were given six year prison terms in 2017.

However, Mr Tella,60, subsequently died in a nursing home, prosecutors decided to take the pair back to court to face a murder charge.

The two men were then convicted of murder. Judge Lady Stacey told Kinlan - who stamped on his victim's head 20 times - that his punishment part of his life sentence would be 10 years and nine months.

Boland, who started the attack and then tried to pull his accomplice away, was given a nine years and 11 months punishment part.

The two men would have to serve this portion before they could apply for parole.

Lawyers acting for the two men believed that Lady Stacey didn't follow correct procedure in sentencing the despicable duo.

They told Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Carloway and his colleagues Lord Menzies and Lord Brodie that Lady Stacey didn't follow established guidelines on how to treat young offenders.

The lawyers argued that if she did, she would have imposed a punishment part which reflected the immaturity of the accused and the hope that because they can be rehabilitated because they are young.

The appeal judges agreed and reduced Kinlan's punishment part to eight years and nine months and Boland's punishment part to seven years and 11 months.

In a written judgement issued on Thursday at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, Lord Carloway wrote: "The sentence must be fair and proportionate, in line with the guideline which has been approved by the court.

"It must in addition take account of the young offender's lack of maturity, capacity for change and the offenders best interest. Rehabilitation is an important consideration.

"There are no mitigating circumstances relative to the offence itself. The attack on Mr Tella was entirely unprovoked.

"It was brutal and especially given his early incapacitation, cowardly.

"The only mitigation is derived from the appellants' youth and their acceptance of responsibility for the attack.

"In all the circumstances, the starting points for the punishment parts can be seen as excessive.

"The appeals are allowed accordingly."

The two men were aged 15 and 16 when they preyed upon their victim who had been returning home from a night time prayer vigil.

Kinlan had downed a cocktail of cider and drugs whilst Boland had been drinking large quantities of vodka.

The pair began by trying to grab Ajani's hat before launching a brutal assault on their victim as he lay there shouting for help.

CCTV footage caught the pair beating Ajani on the ground and blood was found on Kinlan's Nike trainers.

The duo were caught following a police investigation.

In his judgement, Lord Carloway said there was no guarantee that the two men would be released from prison at the end of the punishment parts.

He wrote: "It is worth emphasising at the outset that as with all decisions which fix punishment parts in murder cases, the sentence of the court is detention or imprisonment for life.

"The determination of the punishment part does not constitute a recommendation or a suggestion by the court that the offender ought to be released upon the expiry of the punishment part.

"It simply establishes a period during which the offender cannot apply for parole."