PC applies to appeal sentence for manslaughter of lover

A Dorset police officer jailed for strangling his long-term lover in West Sussex has applied to appeal his sentence.

Timothy Brehmer was jailed for 10 and a half years last month at Salisbury Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of mother-of-two Claire Parry.

He was acquitted by a jury of murder.

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the 41-year-old has applied to appeal against his sentence.

A spokeswoman said: "This person has made an application for leave to appeal sentence.''

The move comes as the Attorney General's Office refers the case back to the Court of Appeal after receiving a complaint under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.

Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC believes the sentence is "unduly lenient''.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office said: "The Solicitor General expresses his deepest sympathies to the family of Claire Parry.

"After careful consideration he has decided to refer the sentence of Timothy Brehmer to the Court of Appeal as he believes the sentence is unduly lenient.''

Mrs Parry, 41, died during a "kerfuffle'' in Brehmer's car in the car park of the Horns Inn in West Parley, on May 9 this year.

Brehmer, a married father, claimed the nurse accidentally suffered the fatal injury while he was trying to push her out of his Citroen car so he could drive away.

Trial judge Mr Justice Jacobs said he sentenced Brehmer for manslaughter on the basis that he "lost control'' after Mrs Parry sent a text message to his wife, Martha, also a police officer.

"I am sure that you did deliberately take Claire Parry by the neck, applying significant force with your forearm or the crook of your elbow for a period of time while she struggled against you, thereby causing the severe neck injuries which the pathologist described,'' he said.

The judge said as a "trained and experienced'' road traffic police officer, Brehmer would have known Mrs Parry was seriously injured.

He added: "Yet you did nothing to try to help Claire Parry. You did not ask her how she was. That was because you knew how she was.''

Brehmer, of Hordle, Hampshire, will serve two-thirds of his sentence in prison before he can apply for parole.