Outcry over killers’ sentences

Andrew Lorimer’s family have demanded a meeting with the Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory following the sentencing of his killers last week.
Andrew Lorimer. INLM0612-931conAndrew Lorimer. INLM0612-931con
Andrew Lorimer. INLM0612-931con

David Lorimer and his wife Julie requested a meeting after the community outrage at last week’s sentences handed out to Andrew’s killers.

The DPP has the power to ask the Court of Appeal to review a sentence on the grounds that it is unduly lenient.

Mrs Lorimer said they wanted all political parties represented at the meeting and added their faith had been restored in local politicians. The family said they had asked Ulster Unionist MLA Jo-Anne Dobson to set up the meeting and had requested that TUV leader Jim Allister be the family spokesperson. They said they had received great support also from the DUP’s Carla Lockhart.

The Lurgan branch of the PUP has set up an online petition on their website and set up a Facebook page entitled Justice for Andrew Lorimer.

In a statement to the Mail the PUP said: “Understandably, Andrew’s family and the community are disgusted at the leniency shown towards these killers and are calling on these sentences to be reviewed. After conversations with the family an online petition has been created calling for justice for Andrew Lorimer.” They will be taking the petition door to door in Lurgan.

The DUP’s Upper Bann MP David Simpson and MLA Stephen Moutray visited the Lorimer family. They said: “The sentence issued in court was disappointing. Indeed, some have described it as unduly lenient.

“Andrew Lorimer suffered a barbaric death. The sentence handed out to those convicted for this heinous crime, is difficult to understand for anyone but most of all for this grieving family. Andrew’s family thought that justice would prevail with sentences that reflected the severity of the crime. We will be assisting the family as they now explore their options for redress. It is also important that the judiciary offer some public explanation for the approach which was taken.”

Mrs Dobson said she shared the family’s disgust and pledged to set up the meeting with the DPP.

“The family and community in Mourneview and across Lurgan and the wider area cannot comprehend what was in the mind of the judge when he passed such lenient sentences for Andrew Lorimer’s heinous murder.

“If the Court of Appeal agrees that the sentence was unduly lenient it may increase the sentence. Justice must prevail if the family are not to be let down by the very society which Andrew proudly served and protected as a member of the UDR.”

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