Sentence for murdered Star Hobson's mum ‘doesn’t sound enough’, says care minister

The Attorney General could order a review of the sentence handed to the mother of Star Hobson, a health minister suggested, as she said the eight-year term for allowing the toddler’s death “doesn’t sound enough”.

Gillian Keegan, MP for Chichester, said the murder of the 16-month-old at the hands of bouncer and security guard Savannah Brockhill - who was her mother Frankie Smith’s partner - was “shocking” and “quite unbelievable”.

While Brockhill was handed a life sentence, with a minimum term of 25 years, Ms Keegan said it “doesn’t sound like” justice that Smith, 20, had received just eight years.

She told LBC: “It doesn’t sound enough, as a human being, it doesn’t sound enough.”

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said: “We have received a request for these sentences to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme. The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to consider the case and make a decision.”

The Attorney General’s office has already said it will review the sentence of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ stepmother, Emma Tustin, 32, who was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years at Coventry Crown Court last week after being found guilty of the Solihull six-year-old’s murder.

The sentence of the youngster’s father, Thomas Hughes, 29, who was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter, will also be looked at.

In sentencing Brockhill and Smith, judge Mrs Justice Lambert said Star was "caught in the crossfire" of their "toxic relationship".

She said: "Her short life was marked by neglect, cruelty and injury. She was murdered by you, Savannah Brockhill. Frankie Smith, it was your role, as her mother, to protect Star from harm. You have been convicted by this jury of failing to protect her and, thereby, allowing her death."