Thanks, a really interesting read in terms of how the sentence was determined - well worth reading if you have followed the case. Some interesting points:
1. That a 30 year sentence was considered in terms of some gain from the murder but was found not to be relevant so the starting point became 'only' 15 years.
2. His good character as a police officer was considered in mitigation but neutralised as he used police knowledge to cover his tracks. The 'callous' treatment of the body, attempts to evade detection and denial until the last moment seemingly racked up the extra 4 years.
3. The sheer chance of events that occurred in quick succession to reveal vital evidence:
- Being spoken to twice by police when walking home from dumping the body and the police noticing the missing shoes on the second encounter.
- The body being found by chance less than 2 hours after the above by a "worse for wear" person who had got [very] lost, which led to:
- A third encounter by police and the discovery of clothes being washed followed by a quick arrest
- The shoes being found in a bin just hours before they would have been removed by the refuse collectors and never seen again or even considered missing.
- The victims phone being found in a different remote place with "find my iPhone" with just 5% battery remaining due to a quick thinking police officer who asked DM to check before his arrest.
- Good quality domestic CCTV nearby confirming movements and the timing of events.
Without that chain of events, the body may have been undiscovered for a long time as it would usually sink if the lungs fill with water, only floating again when decomposition takes hold days or weeks later. At this point cause of death might not be as clear.
The blood stained shoes would have been in landfill and probably never found, the phone may never have been discovered. The blood was released when dumping the body and there was no evidence of it anywhere else to incriminate him.
I wonder how it would have unfolded if all that hadn't happened.
