A man convicted of murder in a rare retrial has had his sentence increased after a court ruled it was "unduly lenient." Robert Rhodes was initially acquitted of the crime in 2017 but was retried and found guilty of the murder of his wife, Dawn.
The Solicitor General, Ellie Reeves, referred Rhodes' original sentence to the Court of Appeal, citing concerns that it was too lenient. Lawyers argued that the murder sentence alone should have had a starting point of 30 years, before taking into account other offenses.
In a ruling, Lady Justice May and her fellow judges agreed that the sentence was unduly lenient and increased the minimum term to 33-and-a-half years. The senior judge described the murder as "truly appalling" and said that the cover-up involving the couple's child was a "particularly abhorrent aspect" of the case.
Prosecutors had described the killing as "cold-blooded and premeditated," with Rhodes ambushing his wife in their kitchen. The couple's child had initially lied about the circumstances of Dawn's death but later confessed to their role in the cover-up.
The child, who has been left with lifelong mental health struggles and a physical scar from the incident, described the experience of giving evidence against Rhodes as "heartbreaking and distressing." They accused their father of "gaslighting" them and "parading around as a survivor" while destroying them and their mother.
The child's account of the events surrounding Dawn's death included Rhodes telling them to stab their mother, with the teenager recalling the moment and the trauma that followed. They expressed hope that their father's actions would be held accountable and that they could begin to rebuild their life.
The increased sentence reflects the severity of Rhodes' crimes and the impact they had on his family. The case serves as a reminder of the importance of seeking justice and the need to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
