Hope it's OK to c/p this. Still worrying about SH appealing, and this was a similar sentence given to M.Philpott to which she appealed.
It wasn't upheld but I thought interesting the reasons her barrister gave are potentially what I think SH would try out.
If I've posted wrongly (inappropriately) I will of course delete Mod??
Mairead Philpott has had her 17-year prison sentence for killing her six children in a house fire in Derby upheld by the court of appeal.
Philpott, 32, was jailed alongside her husband Mick in April after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Jade Philpott and her brothers John, Jack, Jesse, Jayden and Duwayne, who were aged between five and 13.
Despite losing the first round of her attempt to challenge the length of her sentence, her lawyers succeeded in making a renewed application..
Presenting Philpott's appeal, her barrister Shaun Smith QC said: "[Her] utter dependence ... on Mick Philpott, whilst not excusing culpability, legally or morally, was not given sufficient weight in assessing the length of her sentence."
Richard Latham QC addresses the court of appeal, sitting at Nottingham crown court –
Mairead, he said, was "particularly vulnerable" to a man like Philpott who specialised in taking advantage of young girls with no family support or self esteem. She had been a loving mother, but would forever be known as a child killer; her sentence would be "a lifetime reminder of her inability to stand up to a disturbingly dangerous man".
Announcing the court's decision, Thomas said that although Mairead Philpott was under the control of her domineering husband, she was on occasions capable of standing up to him. She had, however, chosen to support his plan to set fire to the house and blame it on her husband's former mistress.
"This was not a spur of the moment plan," Thomas said. "It was one that had been carefully and deliberately thought out.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...tt-loses-appeal-manslaughter-house-fire-derby