THE 'unduly lenient' sentence of a Darlington man convicted of choking a woman to death is to go to the Court of Appeal next week.
Sam Pybus was jailed for four years and eight months after admitting the manslaughter of Sophie Moss, 33, at her home in Darlington in February.
The length of his sentence caused a public outcry and Labour MP Harriet Harman asked for the sentence to be reviewed saying it "did not reflect the gravity of the crime".
Ms Harman said Pybus' "disgraceful mitigation" that Ms Moss, a mother of two young boys, encouraged strangulation during sex made it sound as if it was "her fault".
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.
Pybus, of Water View, Middleton St. George, Darlington, was charged with murder but the Crown Prosecution Service has accepted his plea of guilty to manslaughter.
Speaking after the sentencing, Daniel Parkington, the father of Sophie Moss' children, spoke of the devastating impact of having to try to protect their children from learning the truth of their mother's death.
Following a question from the town's MP, Peter Gibson, the Attorney General Suella Braverman said she had referred the case to the Court of Appeal for review.
She said: "My office received a number of referrals to review the sentence in this deeply disturbing case. I agree that the sentence appears too low, and I have referred it to the Court of Appeal to be reviewed. The case will be heard in due course and the Court of Appeal will decide whether to increase the sentence."
The case will be heard at the Court of Appeal next Friday.
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