It's taken me 13 years to change the law after my sister Sasha Marsden was murdered in Blackpool

Victims will now be given more time to challenge prison sentences after Sasha’s Law - named for Blackpool teenager Sasha Marsden who was raped and murdered in 2013 - was officially passed through Parliament.

With the law change having passed through Parliament with just one amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill to be debated before it goes through for Royal assent, Sasha’s sister Katie Brett said that her sibling will now be remembered forever for what has been achieved in her name.

Under the law change, the time limit for victims and families to challenge prison sentences they believe are too lenient has been extended, with the time frame allowed to request a review lengthened to up to six months, replacing the current 28-day limit.

There will also be a statutory duty to inform victims and their families of this right. The reforms relate to the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, which allows cases to be referred to the Attorney General for review by the Court of Appeal.

‘All the good times are tainted’

Sasha Marsden was just 16 when she was murdered in Blackpool in 2013 after she was lured to a hotel with the promise of a job before being attacked and killed by David Minto, who was later convicted of her murder and jailed with a minimum term of 35 years.

Someone handed a life sentence can be released on licence after serving a minimum term - in Minto’s case 35 years. A whole-life order, however, means an offender will spend the rest of their life in prison, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances.

The changes come after years of campaigning by victims’ families, with ministers acknowledging that people cannot be expected to engage with the justice system so soon after traumatic cases.

“When Sasha was brutally murdered 13 years ago our lives were blown apart,” said Katie. “Now it’s always before and after Sasha. All the good times after are tainted by loss that she’s missing out on all of this.

“She should be here, Sasha would be 30 this year. usually when someone dies, they are surrounded by people who love them, they feel loved and at peace, Sasha’s final moments were nothing but terror and while she lay dying she was raped, our family are forever haunted by Sasha’s final moments, all for the sexual gratification of David Minto.

“As the baby of the family, we cannot help but feel we should have been there to protect her... but we weren’t. We feel like we failed Sasha and then, because we were not aware of our right to appeal her murderers sentence, we have failed her again.”

‘It breaks my heart’

“For 9 years I have been trying to challenge David Minto’s sentence, he was allowed to appeal his sentence because he said that he never planned to murder Sasha he only planned to rape her and the murder was spontaneous,” said Katie. “How insulting is that!

“So, when I learnt that the only thing preventing me from doing this was a time limit, I vowed to get this extended and that’s when the fight for Sasha’s Law began. Since then, me and my family have pushed for these changes in the hope that one day we will get our day in court and Minto's sentence will be extended to a whole life order, which is what he deserves.

“Unfortunately, these changes to the unduly lenient sentence scheme cannot be applied retrospectively, so we are still denied our chance to appeal his sentence.

“But there is some comfort knowing that families in future will have some leeway if they are unable to apply to the scheme within the time limit and this will be thanks to Sasha. My mum passed away two years ago and it breaks my heart that this fight took this long so she would never get to see it.

“She died thinking that no one cared about what happened to Sasha, but now we know that Sasha does matter and she will now be remembered for the what we have achieved in her name and not just because of how she died,” said Katie.