Government minister 'shocked' by Derbyshire child killer Michael Harrison

The comments come after it was confirmed that, child killer, Michael Harrison would not have his minimum term of 21 and a half years increased following a referral.

Explaining why the sentence would not be increased, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office said a case could only be referred to the Court of Appeal ‘if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error’.

The spokesperson added that Michael Tomlinson, Solicitor General and MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, was ‘shocked’ and ‘deeply saddened’ by the case.

Harrison, 41, was jailed in May after being convicted of the callous murder of his undernourished son Mikey Harrison.

Mikey, 11, was punched to death before his father concocted a fairytale story claiming the young boy had fallen out of a tree. His account was dismissed as pure fiction but he has refused to reveal the reasons behind his actions.

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Initially Harrison denied the charge of murder, before admitting the manslaughter of Mikey – something the prosecution did not accept.

Eventually, with the weight of evidence against him clear, he made a sudden decision earlier this year to admit that he had murdered his son.

Derby Crown Court heard heard how Mikey was ferociously beaten at his home address in Heanor, on June 18 of last year, to the extent that the young boy sustained a bleed to his liver.

Four hours later, and with his son in increasing pain, Harrison drove the boy to Shipley Country Park where he called 999 from his van and concocted a story that Mikey had sustained the injuries after falling from a tree.

The court heard that Mikey, who weighed just three stones and 11 pounds, went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 2.39pm on June 18 last year – five hours after the attack.

Harrison appeared before the court for sentencing on May 18 wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘FAMILY’ on the front. At the conclusion of the hearing the killer pointed towards members of the media and said: "I will always love my family no matter what you lot say. Put whatever version you like.”

A spokesperson from the Attorney General’s Office said: “The Solicitor General was shocked and deeply saddened by this case and wishes to express his sympathies to the family of Mikey Harrison.”

“After careful consideration the Solicitor General has concluded that he could not properly refer this case to the Court of Appeal. A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence. The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.”