Convicted murderer who killed pregnant girlfriend has sentence increased to whole life order

A man who killed his pregnant partner while on license for a previous murder will die behind bars after his 42-year sentence was deemed ‘unduly lenient’.

Shaine March, 48, stabbed and slashed 32-year-old Alana Odysseos 23 times at her home in Walthamstow, east London, in July 2024.

He had been released from prison on a life licence in 2013 after fatally stabbing Andre Drummond, 17, in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in Denmark Hill, south London, in January 2000.

March was handed a second life sentence following a trial at the Old Bailey last year, where the judge imposing a minimum term of 42 years before he can once again apply for release.

Both sides challenged that sentence at the Court of Appeal today.

The Solicitor General referred his second life sentence to the Court of Appeal, with barristers telling a hearing on Thursday that March should have been given a whole life order.

March also challenged the length of his sentence, with his barristers claiming it was ‘manifestly excessive’.

In a ruling, Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Cavanagh and Judge Alice Robinson, said: ‘The sentence was unduly lenient.

‘We quash it, and we quash the minimum term order that the judge made, and substitute in its place a whole life order, which means that the offender will never be released.’

Following the original sentencing, Alana’s mother, Karen Cronin, said outside of the court: ‘Alana, my beautiful kind and loving daughter, left this earth in the most callous and brutal way imaginable.

‘The person who has done this to my daughter – who I don’t think deserves the respect of using his name – is evil and a coward. Why did he have to resort to the level of violence he used?

‘The anger I feel towards him doesn’t feel Christian so I can no longer go to Church. I will never have forgiveness in my heart.’

‘I want him to die in prison. He should never be let out.’

Father Alan Yates said his daughter was a ‘happy-go-lucky’ much-loved mother who was ‘kind and considerate’, and would stick up for what she believed in.

He said something changed after she met March and she became a ‘timid vulnerable person who was not our Alana’.

He said: ‘I hope a sentence is given that means Shaine March will never cause another family the pain and loss we are suffering. It is unimaginable and we will never get over our loss.

‘Every day I wonder why he didn’t walk away. Alana was pregnant with his child. This meant nothing to him.’

The court heard statements from her three sisters, including Lorraine Schofield who said March was a ‘monster’ and ‘evil, disgusting coward’.

She told the court: ‘All Alana wanted was to be loved. The baby she so desperately wanted to protect that night was taken away.’

Sister Jasmine Yates told March: ‘You took more than one life that night. You took Alana, you took the baby she was carrying, the child she was excited about.

‘I fear if you are ever released you will kill again.’

March admitted murdering her on the seventh day of his trial after an expert no longer supported his defence of diminished responsibility.

Tom Little KC, for the Solicitor General, told the Court of Appeal in written submissions that March and Alana had been in a relationship for around four months, during which time March attacked her and stopped her from talking to family and friends.

They also argued about her pregnancy, including in the hours before the murder on July 22 2024, with Alana heard to say: ‘I don’t want to kill my baby.’

She was later seen outside the property, clutching her right side.

Bleeding from multiple stab wounds to her body, she pointed at the defendant standing nearby and shouted: ‘Shaine stabbed me, he stabbed me. Help, help.’

March walked away as Alana died on the ground outside her address despite the efforts of police and paramedics.

She had suffered stab wounds to her chest, stomach, pelvis, shoulders, buttocks, right arm, thighs and lower legs.

Before throwing his mobile phone in a drain, March recorded a voice note saying: ‘Mum, I just killed a woman, and I’m going back to jail.’

The trial at the Old Bailey heard that Alana, knew about his murder conviction, with safeguarding checks made by probation services.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Murray said the murder involved ‘prolonged and excessive violence” but that he did not consider the case to be one where “the need for lifelong imprisonment is clear beyond doubt’.

He based this on four factors, including that March suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was a teenager, which affected his ability to regulate his emotions, and that both murders were ‘apparently spontaneous’.

But Mr Little told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that a whole life order was ‘just punishment’ and that there was a ‘constellation of aggravating features’ in the case.

In court, he said: ‘Properly analysed, this case should never have left the categorisation as a whole life order case.’

Sandip Patel KC, for March, told the court that the sentence was reached in a ‘fair and balanced manner’.

He also said that March’s sentence should be reduced on the grounds of his traumatic brain injury, stating that Mr Justice Murray ‘did not give it the fullest regard’.

In the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Edis said that Mr Justice Murray ‘did fall into error’, and that the aggravating factors were ‘far more potent’ than mitigation.

He continued that the death of the unborn child, and that the attack on Ms Odysseos was witnessed by one of her other children, were both a ‘serious aggravating factor’.

The judge also said that March’s brain injury was not a ‘major cause’ of his offending, and that the lack of premeditation had to be ‘highly qualified’.

Following the ruling, Solicitor General Ellie Reeves said: ‘Alana Odysseos was a loving mother whose life was tragically cut short in an act of appalling violence by a man with a long history of serious violence. Alana’s daughters have lost their mother, and her family have lost someone they loved deeply.

‘There is no room for violence against women and girls and I welcome the court’s decision to increase Shaine March’s prison sentence, removing this extremely dangerous offender off our streets and protecting anyone else suffering harm.

‘I would like to express my deepest sympathies to Alana’s daughters and everyone who cared for her.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Comments Add as preferred source