13 years for murder

CRAIG ROUGET was yesterday sentenced to at least 13 years in prison for murdering James Dean. The Royal Court sat in an unusual session to agree the term the 19-year-old should be recommended to serve.

Judge Russell Finch and the jurats concluded it should be 13 years before he be considered for release, less the year he spent on remand after the knifing in High Street on 9 September last year.

Judge Finch said the minimum period recommended to be served of a life sentence was often seen as the sentence itself.

'It means exactly what it says,' he said. 'Any suggestion that release is more or less automatic after the term is wrong.

'This is far from the truth. If that's the view people have, I emphasise that is incorrect.'

Rouget, who, it emerged yesterday, has appealed against his conviction, should be moved to a UK prison at some point and a High Court judge will confirm the minimum jail term of his life sentence.

'The judge will have the power to set a minimum term as if he had appeared in court in England or Wales,' added Judge Finch.

The Royal Court's recommendation would not be binding on the judge.

In the case of Derek Harvey, who killed his estranged wife and young daughter in 2000, the Bailiff recommended a minimum of 15 years should be served.

A High Court judge raised that to 18 years earlier this year.

Judge Finch instituted the hearing - allowing the prosecution and defence to make submissions - after considering previous cases where the local judge had made his own written recommendation on sentence to the UK courts on the transfer of the prisoner.

Judge Finch stated the key mitigating factors considered in determining sentence were the intent to cause bodily harm and not kill Mr Dean, lack of premeditation, the defendant's age and his remorse.

But the carrying of the knife was a significant aggravating factor.

The court also considered a letter from Mr Dean's father handed to it by the prosecution.

Advocate Peter Ferbrache, representing Rouget, had asked that the 15-year starting point be dramatically reduced due to the defendant's age and the lack of aggravating factors.

Rouget appeared in the dock in court yesterday while members of his family were in the public gallery.

Judge Finch and the jurats deliberated for 75 minutes before returning the sentence.