Blackburn killer's sentence extended by 8 years
Jordan Monaghan was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 40 years back in December last year
A man from Blackburn has had his sentence extended by 8 years.
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.
In May, senior judges at the Court of Appeal heard challenges or appeals against the prison sentences of five convicted killers, including the whole-life terms of former police officer Couzens and double murderer Ian Stewart as well as Monaghan.
The Court of Appeal previously heard that between January 2013 and October 2016 he murdered three-week-old Ruby and 21-month-old Logan before murdering Evie Adams.
In Friday's ruling, the judges found that while a whole life order should not be imposed, the sentence should be increased to life with a minimum term of 48 years.
Wayne Couzens lost his bid to reduce his sentence at the Court of Appeal
Wayne Couzens is still set to die in prison after losing his bid to reduce his sentence at the Court of Appeal.
Last year, Couzens, 49, was handed a whole life term for the rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, the first time the sentence had been imposed for a single murder of an adult not committed in the course of a terror attack.
Appealing against the whole-life term, Couzens's lawyers argued he deserved "decades in jail" but said a whole-life term was excessive.
However, the judges refused to change his sentence.
In the judgment, Lord Burnett said the case involved "unspeakably grim detail" and that Couzens had "sought to minimise his true responsibility from the moment he had first spoken to the police".
He continued: "This was, as the judge said, warped, selfish and brutal offending, which was both sexual and homicidal.
"It was a case with unique and extreme aggravating features.
"Chief amongst these, as the judge correctly identified, was the grotesque misuse by Couzens of his position as a police officer, with all that connoted, to facilitate Ms Everard's kidnap, rape and murder."
Lord Burnett said the seriousness of the case was "so exceptionally high such that a whole life order rather than a minimum term order should be made".
He continued: "It provides for its unique and defining feature, which was that Couzens had used his knowledge and status as a police officer to perpetrate his appalling crimes against Ms Everard and for the extensive and extreme nature of the other aggravating features which were present: the significant and cold-blooded planning and pre-meditation; the abduction of Ms Everard; the most serious sexual conduct; the mental and physical suffering inflicted on Ms Everard before her death; and the concealment and attempts to destroy Ms Everard's body.
"We agree with the judge that having determined there should be a whole life order, given the misuse of Couzens' role as a police officer and the serious aggravating features of the offending the guilty pleas did not affect the outcome."