Bid to increase killer Derbyshire dad Michael Harrison's jail term under consideration

Harrison, 41, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years and 6 months after being convicted of the brutal murder of his undernourished son Mikey Harrison.

Derby Crown Court heard how Mikey was ferociously beaten at his home address in Heanor, on June 18 of last year, to the extent the child sustained a bleed to his liver. Michael Harrison has never revealed the reason behind the murder.

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.

He was jailed on Thursday, May 18, and appeared in the dock wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘FAMILY’ on the front.

READ THIS: Michael Harrison jailed for 21 and a half years for murder of 11 year old son

After being sentenced, he 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."

Now an application has been made to review the sentence handed down by Judge Shaun Smith KC on the basis that it was ‘unduly lenient’.

The referral has been made under the Government’s unduly lenient sentencing scheme which allows anyone to submit a request before the Attorney General’s Office decides whether to send it to the Court of Appeal who can make a final decision about the sentence.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said: “We have received a request for this sentence to be considered under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme. The Law Officers have 28 days from sentencing to consider the case and make a decision.”

READ THIS: CCTV shows Derbyshire killer dad’s movements as he tried to make son’s fatal injuries appear accidental

As reported, Judge Smith told Harrison: "You hit and punched him many times and one of the punches was so hard that you lacerated his liver – the eventual cause of his death.

"Rather than face up to what you did you made a call to the ambulance service to report that Mikey had fallen from a tree. The best efforts of doctors were not enough.”

In a statement read out to the court by the clearly upset judge, Mikey was described as “special and beautiful”.

“He was sweet, funny and shy with a beautiful smile. He loved drawing and his art classes at school.

"He loved his music and singing and his teddies and would line them up in his bedroom and talk to them.”

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

His dad would subsequently claim the injuries were sustained when Mikey ‘feel from a tree’ during a game of hide and seek. This account was dismissed as pure fiction and when police visited the home address on June 21 they found the place had been ‘stripped and cleaned’.

The van Harrison used to drive Mikey to the park has never been found. Harrison, of Eaten Terrace in Nottingham, admitted murder.

A decision on the sentencing referral will be made by June 14.