Friends of murdered Somerset couple launch petition as killer has sentence reduced

• Watch Robert Murphy's report

The friends and family of a couple who were murdered in their home by their neighbour have set up a petition to fight a reduction in their killer's sentence.

Jen and Stephen Chapple were murdered at their home by Collin Reeves in November 2021. It followed a long-running dispute over parking.

After being convicted at Bristol Crown Court, the trial judge sentenced Reeves to life in prison with a minimum tariff of 38 years before he was eligible for parole.

But in March, appeal judges reduced that tariff to 35 years.

Dani Lucas, who was close friends with Jen, has now set up a petition to try to get this decision reversed.

Another friend of Jen's, Melody Champion-Smith, is also backing the petition.

"He is going to get to see his children," she said. Jen and Stephen are never going to get to see theirs.

"There are going to be no birthday cards, Christmas cards, presents - because they've got none of that anymore. Because he took that. He chose his life sentence when he opened that back door that day and committed the crime that he did," Melody added.

Reeves murdered the Chapples after a long-running dispute over parking, jumping over their garden fence before going into their home and stabbing each of them six times as their children slept upstairs.

Reeves used a ceremonial dagger given to him when he left the Marines to kill the couple.

He was convicted of murder by a jury in June last year.

"There are residents in Norton Fitzwarren currently diagnosed with PTSD from what they saw that night," Dani told ITV News.

"So for him (the appeal judge) to say, well, I didn't quite consider Colin's mental state, perhaps he needs to take a step back and consider everybody else his mental state around him, which was the main drive behind the petition.

"I sat with Jennifer's mother, who had gone from making headway in grief to utterly broken again."

She said she hopes the sentence will be put back to 38 years.

"Everybody would like to see a longer sentence," she added. "Obviously, we don't have that power. A petition doesn't have that power.

"The voices of thousands of people don't really have that power. But if someone could look at that decision that was made and the massive impact that it's having on every single one of us and reinstate it, that would be the best outcome."

Jen's sister, Rhonda Godley, said that despite Reeves' conviction, she lives in fear.

"I've put cameras all the way around the house to make sure I'm secure because I'm terrified," she said.

"I don't go out unless I know where I'm going. I can't go for walks that I used to. I literally am just I stay inside because I don't want to risk getting hurt."