Interview with the Katie Brett, the sister of Sasha Marsden and Lorraine Beavers.

Blackpool Gazette

Transcript

00:00Hello, my name is Luke Patrick. I'm a reporter for the Blackpool Gazette.

00:03Yesterday I interviewed Katie Brett and the MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, Lorraine Beavers,

00:08about Katie's campaign to remove the 28-day limit on appealing unduly lenient sentences

00:13after Katie's teenage sister, Sasha Marsden, was raped and murdered by a man called David Minto,

00:18who did not receive a life sentence. This is what they had to say.

00:22Oh yes, okay, so if you could introduce yourself.

00:26So, I'm Katie Brett and I'm Sasha Marsden's sister.

00:35So, could you tell me a little bit about Sasha and what unfortunately happened to Sasha?

00:42Sasha was 16, she was at college studying childcare and she wanted to work for children.

00:49She, obviously when you're at college you don't earn, you don't get very much money,

00:53so she wanted to earn some extra money by working part-time and she was offered a job

00:58in a hotel in Blackpool. Her dad dropped her off on the first day. Everything was fine,

01:06she had like an induction, she was there for an hour and a half and it paid her £10 and

01:10arranged for her to come back on the Thursday. So, she went to college on the Thursday,

01:15she had a really good day. She'd just been told by the head of the course that she was on at the

01:22time that she'd already done enough work to complete that course and she wouldn't be moving

01:27on to the next level. So, she was really proud of herself because she'd had a difficult past and

01:31she'd had to leave school through bullying. So, this was like a really big achievement for Sasha

01:36and it was a really good day, a really positive day. She'd just passed the course, she's moving

01:42up to the next level and now she's going for her first proper day at work. So, her dad dropped

01:46her off and she was probably happier than she'd ever been in a long time. She met David Minto at

01:53Windsor's and because the hotel was on a side street, it was difficult to turn round. So,

01:59it was actually Minto that suggested that her dad dropped her off at Windsor's and that's where

02:03they'd meet. As soon as he got her in there, he attacked her from behind with a knife.

02:10She had over 100 injuries in total to her head, face and neck, plus defence wounds where she'd

02:15tried to defend herself. So, one knife wound went through her hand. So, I'm guessing she's

02:21obviously held it up to her face to try and protect herself. She had 57 injuries just to the back of

02:28her head and that was obviously the initial where they'd attacked her from behind. She almost

02:36escaped. Sasha's fingerprint was found in blood on the inside of the airlock of the front door

02:42of the hotel. So, she very nearly got out but obviously he's overpowered her. He pulled her back

02:47in and carried on attacking her. She bled out. There was no blood left in her body. Then he's

02:55dragged her downstairs by her feet and we know that it was by her feet because the drag marks

02:59on the carpet going downstairs had like her hair in them. So, obviously her head's been banging

03:05on the stairs as he's dragged her down into the basement. He's propped her over the bath in

03:10whatever position he obviously wanted her in and he raped her vaginally and anally while she was

03:16dying. Then he's wrapped her up in carpeting and dragged her body outside, set her on fire

03:26and then started the clean-up. So, could you introduce yourself? So, I'm Lorraine

03:34Beavers and I'm the MP for Blackthorn Walls and Fleetwood.

03:40Could you tell me how you first first learned about Sasha on this particular case? So,

03:46obviously I knew about the crime because at the time it was massive. You know, it's a national

03:53so I've always known about the crime. I came to contact the office

03:57wanting some help. So, we contacted the Attorney General's office to ask for an interview for Katie

04:13and myself and Chris Webb, the neighbouring MP, because it happened in his patch and collectively

04:22we wanted some answers about the unduly lenient sentence scheme and about the time frame of 28

04:32days which is absolutely a ridiculous limit for a grieving family to even think about appealing

04:43in a sentence like that. Especially after they've been through the trauma of listening to every

04:50single detail about the loved one who's been murdered and in such a way that Sasha was taken

04:58from this world. So, I've recently lost both parents and I know that I haven't been able to

05:07function properly and both of my parents died through natural causes and the trauma was horrendous

05:15and 28 days just isn't long enough and even though Sasha was taken earlier, the family

05:22had sat in that room and listened to every single detail of what this, I don't know how to describe

05:32this person, has done to take her away from her family and then they're expected to even know

05:40about this 28 days, you know, to appeal that sentence which they believe and I believe was

05:47unduly lenient, you know, because you've just got to look at the case and listen to what happened

05:55to this beautiful little girl and that's what she was, she was 16 years of age, to know that

06:02this person is a predecessor and should not be on the streets but because of not having the

06:10knowledge or not being able to function properly because obviously you've got the grief of learning

06:16how your loved ones died, the family haven't been able to start the ball rolling to make sure that

06:23this gentleman doesn't get out ever again. So, obviously as an office we've contacted the

06:31Attorney General's office and he's referred us to the Ministry of Justice and we're looking at

06:39how we can help Katie and her family get some justice for Sasha and how we can make sure that

06:46this doesn't happen to other families, you know, and that other families don't have this against

06:52them, you know, because families want justice, nothing will ever bring that beautiful little

06:57girl back and what's happened to this family, nothing will ever do that, but to think that

07:02this person could be walking the streets and taking away the life of another innocent

07:10and in the brutal way that Sasha died is just unbelievable and that's what we're here for,

07:16we're here to change things and make things better and so hopefully we can support Katie

07:24in her mission to get Sasha's law brought into fruition and we can protect people along the line

07:31so men like that aren't back out on the streets again.

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