A five-year jail term handed to a bus driver who beat a man to death after a queue-jumping row at a Sainsbury's supermarket has sparked outrage. Demiesh Williams, 30, was sentenced for the manslaughter of Andrew Clark, 43, in Beckenham, south London.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick condemned the sentence as 'paltry' and accused the Labour government of pursuing 'soft sentencing'. He told the Daily Mail: 'Williams committed an appalling crime and yet his prison sentence is paltry. A five year sentence, reduced further under the early release scheme, is not justice. I am writing to the Attorney General asking that it is reconsidered.'
Woolwich Crown Court heard that Williams pushed ahead in a shop queue, and when Clark challenged him, Williams threatened to 'take him outside'. He returned to his car, put on a balaclava, and attacked Clark as he left the shop. CCTV showed Williams restraining Clark with one hand while striking him with the other, causing Clark to fall and hit his head on the pavement. Clark died in hospital three days later.
Williams was initially charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, but the charge was upgraded to murder after Clark's death. He denied murder but admitted manslaughter, and the prosecution accepted the plea. Sentencing, Judge Andrew Lees said Clark was 'a hard-working family man' and that his family faced 'unimaginable grief'. Williams will serve up to two-thirds of his five-year-and-three-month sentence before release on licence.
