Fury as jail term is cut for Samantha Madgin's killer

Oct 9 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

THE mother of murdered Samantha Madgin yesterday said she was ashamed to be British after her daughter’s teenage killer had her prison sentence slashed.

Jordan Jobson, of Holywell Avenue, Walker, Newcastle, was given a 15-year life sentence in April after Newcastle Crown Court heard how she stabbed 18-year-old Samantha 10 times with a serrated kitchen knife.

The young mother was enjoying her first night out after the birth of her son Callum 10 weeks earlier, when she was attacked by the schoolgirl high on a cocktail of cocaine and alcohol.

Having previously failed to overturn her murder conviction, yesterday Jobson appeared before three judges in the Court of Appeal in London where her 15-year conviction was cut by three years.

And afterwards Samantha’s mother Alison, who lives with her husband Stan, 43, and Callum, who is now one, said the decision was an insult to her daughter’s memory. Alison, 42, of High View, Wallsend, North Tyneside, said: “It is a joke.

“It is a slap in the face and it makes me ashamed to be British. That isn’t justice.

“The judge reduced the minimum tariff from 15 years to 12 because Jordan Jobson was only 15 when she knifed my daughter to death.

“But why should that matter? Jobson stabbed Samantha again and again without any provocation. She didn’t even know my daughter.

“Jobson is a cold-blooded killer and has never shown any remorse. She should be sentenced accordingly. What kind of message does reducing her term send out? Reducing her term is an insult to my daughter’s memory.”

Jobson will now serve 12 years before she can apply for parole after appeal judges heard the original term was manifestly excessive. Mr Justice David Clarke said the most powerful argument in her favour was her very young age and lack of maturity at the time of the offence, which he described as a terrible act.

Jobson had been led into a life of alcohol and drugs by a boyfriend who was three years older.

The court ruled that the minimum term was unfortunately set too high by Judge David Hodson, the Recorder of Newcastle.

Mr Justice Clarke said: “This is still a long time for a young person of this age, even though to some it may not seem long enough.”

But Alison yesterday condemned the decision, saying it set a bad example to violent youngsters.

She said: “There are more and more young people, both boys and girls, committing violent crimes and a jail term should be a deterrent.

“It’s no surprise there is so much violence on the streets. If life meant life maybe things would be different.

“Jobson will still be young enough to start a family when she gets out of prison – where is the justice in that?”

Neil Atkinson, from the National Victims’ Association, said: “This crime utterly appalled and revolted the entire region and it beggars belief that these judges have undermined the brilliant work done by the police in bringing criminals to court.

“People are beginning to feel there is nothing in the way of a deterrent to people who commit acts of crime. This is another example of the judicial system being utterly out of step with public opinion.”