What to know about the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme which saw double murderer jailed for life
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsDouble murderer Shaine March has been handed a whole life order after judges ruled his original sentence was “unduly lenient”.March, 48, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years in October 2025 for fatally stabbing his pregnant girlfriend Alana Odysseos in east London.March was on life licence for an earlier murder at the time.Following the sentencing, the Solicitor General referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme (ULS), claiming it should be increased to a whole life order.This is how the scheme works and the options available to judges in these cases.Shaine March has been given a whole life order (Metropolitan Police)What is the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme?ULS allows sentences to be referred to the Court of Appeal if Government law officers consider them potentially “unduly lenient”.Under the scheme, any person or institution can ask for any sentence handed down in a Crown Court to be reviewed.Solicitor General Ellie Reeves then has 28 days from the sentencing date to consider the request and, if deemed necessary, refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.The test for whether a case is referred is high. The sentence can only be deemed “unduly lenient” if it falls outside the range of sentences considered reasonably appropriate for the sentencing judge to hand down, based on the facts and evidence of the case.What happens at the Court of Appeal?Usually, three appeal judges will hear the case.The judges cannot examine or change the offences for which the defendant was sentenced and cannot look at any new evidence related to the case.They can only assess whether the sentence was unduly lenient based on the evidence before the sentencing judge at the time.If the sentence is deemed unduly lenient, the original sentence is quashed, and a new sentence is substituted.Alana Odysseos was murdered while pregnant with her third child (Family Handout)What was March’s original sentence?March was previously sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years in October 2025.At the time of Ms Odysseos’s murder, March was on life licence for a previous murder committed in 2000. He had fatally stabbed 17-year-old Andre Drummond in the neck in Denmark Hill, south London.Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Murray said Ms Odysseos’s murder involved “prolonged and excessive violence”, but 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, that both murders were not premeditated, and that he had pleaded guilty.What did the Court of Appeal rule?The Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was unduly lenient, quashing the minimum term and substituting a whole life order, meaning March will never be released.Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Cavanagh and Judge Alice Robinson, said in a ruling the aggravating features of the case were “far more potent” than the “limited mitigation” available to March.He continued that the death of the unborn child was a “serious aggravating factor”, and the finding that there was no premeditation had to be “highly qualified”.He said: “It may be that the final act of killing had occurred in a rage; it may be that he picked up the knife not long before he used it, but the absence of any prior planning to do that, in the circumstances of this case, operates as only a very limited mitigating factor.”He continued that March’s brain injury was not a “major cause” of his offending and that his guilty plea came “only when he had no alternative open to him”.Solicitor General Ellie Reeves welcomed the court’s decision (PA Archive)What has the Solicitor General said?Following the ruling, Ms 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.”
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