Attempted murderer has sentence increased following personal intervention by the Attorney General

A Barry man guilty of attempted murder has had his sentence increased after the Attorney General, Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP, personally presented the case at the Court of Appeal.

Stephen Gibbs, 46, assaulted his partner in the home he shared with her before he began repeatedly stabbing her in the face with a kitchen knife, stating that he was going to kill her.

On 6 December 2021, Gibbs was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment comprising a custodial term of 13 years and an extension period of 5 years at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, for attempted murder.

Following the sentencing, the case was referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.

On 3 February the Court of Appeal, sitting at Cardiff Crown Court, found his original sentence to be unduly lenient and increased it to 20 years and 7 months’ imprisonment and 5 years on licence.

Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General, Suella Braverman QC MP, said:

This was a terrifying attack by the offender, Stephen Gibbs, using a knife no less than seven times to stab the victim in the face.

I presented this case before the Court of Appeal today because I believed it to be unduly lenient and that the sentence needed to reflect the seriousness of what the offender had intended, namely to kill. I am glad that the Court of Appeal agreed and saw fit to increase this sentence.

The Court of Appeal regularly sits in Crown Courts around England and Wales, and the hearing took place in Cardiff Crown Court.