Women's groups hope to intervene in Sam Pybus' sentence review

The 32-year-old choked Sophie Moss to death during a sex session in her Darlington flat in February.

There was a huge public outcry when Pybus was sentenced to four years and eight months after admitting the manslaughter of the 33-year-old.

The Court of Appeal is set to make a ruling on the sentence tomorrow after the sentence was referred to the Attorney General's office.

Sam Pybus

This morning, the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) and the campaign group We Can’t Consent to This (WCCTT) applied for permission to intervene in the sentencing appeal hearing.

The two organisations have the support of the killer's ex-wife and the victim's former partner as they attempt to ensure the court has information on the latest understanding of the harms of strangulation, and the prevalence and understanding of strangulation within the context of domestic abuse.

Sophie Moss

Labour MP Harriet Harman had asked for the sentence to be reviewed saying it "did not reflect the gravity of the crime".

Louise Howitt has spoken of Sam Pybus's history of non-consensual strangulation in their relationship.

While Daniel Parkington, father to Sophie’s children, strongly refutes that Sophie would have been a willing participant in strangulation.

Miss Howitt said: “I’m extremely hopeful that the Court of Appeal will extend my ex-husband’s sentence to truly reflect the grief he has caused for Sophie’s family and friends.

"Sophie was a victim of abuse and exploitation, in no way responsible for her own death and deserves justice.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how Pybus drove to the mother-of-two's Darlington flat after his wife had gone to bed and he had drunk 24 bottles of lager.

Within minutes of arriving at Miss Moss' flat Pybus had choked her to death.

The court heard how he sat in his car for 15 minutes before driving to a police station to admit choking her unconscious during 'rough sex'. Paramedics were unable to save her life.

Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “We have applied to intervene given grave public concerns raised by the sentencing of Pybus. Our two organisations were instrumental in introducing new offences relating to strangulation within the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

"The evidence we provided to parliament persuaded them of the need to pass this legislation – however, that understanding does not appear to have filtered through to the courts. We hope the criminal appeal court will take this opportunity to provide guidance in such cases strangulation causes death and when men assert unchallenged that the victim consented.”

Fiona Mackenzie, We Can’t Consent to This, added: “Sam Pybus’s sentence is outrageously low. This year the Government made new law on ‘rough sex’ defences and on strangulation in response to exactly this kind of case: strangulation of women being normalised and treated by the criminal justice system as a minor offence.”

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