THE parents of a soldier whose killer’s jail term will not be increased on appeal have called for a complete overhaul of sentencing guidelines.

The Attorney General and the Justice Secretary have both turned down a possible appeal against the sentence given to Andrew Gibson’s teenage killer.

Mr Gibson was a 19-year-old Scots Guardsman who was killed during a night out in Darlington only days before he planned to return home for Christmas last year.

He was punched in Escapade nightclub by John Flannigan, 17, from Geneva Road, in Darlington. Mr Gibson died six days later in hospital.

In August, Flannigan admitted manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court and was sentenced to two-and-ahalf years in prison.

Mr Gibson’s parents planned to appeal against the sentence. The Crown Prosecution Service also wrote to the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, asking him to review the sentence.

However, last week he turned down any potential appeal, although he expressed his deepest sympathies to Mr Gibson’s family.

The following day, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman asked Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, during a Commons debate, to “investigate the awarding of lenient sentences in which alcohol is an aggravating factor”.

He replied that the Attorney General took his responsibility seriously to step in where a mistake had been made and could not exercise any control over him.

Mr Clarke added: “It is his difficult judgment to take in each case.”

Mr Gibson’s parents have expressed their disappointment that the sentence would not be reviewed. In a joint statement, Linda and Freddy Gibson, from Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, said: “We are extremely disappointed that the case did not go the Court of Appeal and feel sentencing guidelines need a complete overhaul.

“Nowadays, it seems to us, lesser crimes are given more severe jail sentences than actually killing someone. Until now we believed that justice prevails, but not when courts treat the criminal as victim.”

The Northern Echo launched its Price of a Punch campaign following the case to demand tougher sentences for one-punch killers and to reinforce the message to drinkers that one punch is enough to kill.

The Sentencing Council is conducting a public consultation into sentences in similar cases. It runs until January.