Jordan McSweeney, who stalked and murdered Zara Aleena, has won a Court of Appeal challenge to have his minimum tariff of 38 years reduced. In a ruling on Friday, three judges found the sentencing judge had imposed too high an "uplift" to McSweeney's minimum term, and cut it to 33 years.
McSweeney had been released from prison on licence nine days before the murder. Ms Aleena's family described the Court of Appeal's decision as a "shallow triumph" for McSweeney.
He had admitted murder and sexual assault but refused to attend his sentencing hearing last December, when the original tariff and a mandatory life sentence were imposed.
Jordan McSweeney's murder of Ms Aleena was the "culmination of hours of planning", the Court of Appeal heard