Killers fail to get shorter sentences

Sheila Gibbons said the two men, labelled 'cold-blooded' killers by a High Court judge last week, should serve the life sentence they originally received.

Patrick Joseph Rattigan and Terence Edward Wyatt, now both in their thirties, were convicted of murdering 88-year-old Hilda Tizard after a bungled burglary on her sheltered accommodation flat in The Poynings in Victoria Drive.

They bound her to a chair and tied a vest tightly around her neck.

They were sentenced to life imprisonment in December 1999 and told they would have to serve at least 18 years behind bars before they would even be considered for release.

But, nine years on from their trial at Lewes Crown Court, both applied to the High Court in London to have that minimum term reviewed. They failed to get their sentences reduced.

Mrs Gibbons, of Linden Road, said: "It's right that Hilda's killers should stay behind bars. It was a very savage murder and they deserve to serve their full sentence.

"Hilda would have given them whatever they wanted. They didn't have to hurt her.

"She was an elderly woman, and had to sit there in her nightdress while they were ransacking her place.

"She started to sing hymns to them while they were hurting her. That's the sort of woman she was.

"She was very special. She was a sweet, darling, gentle person, who didn't deserve to be hurt like that."

Pair were 'cold-blooded and ruthless'. See next page.

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MAPPair were 'cold-blooded and ruthless'

Giving his judgement on the case, Mr Justice Field said Rattigan, of Canada Grove, Bognor, and Wyatt, of South Terrace, Littlehampton, had been criminal associates for around four months when they attacked profoundly deaf Mrs Tizard in December 1998.

In that time, they had committed 'a number of burglaries and thefts' and had just been released from police custody on the day of the murder.

The judge said they broke into Mrs Tizard's flat, but that she disturbed them while they were looking for money.

They then beat her and tied her up, using a vest as a ligature around her neck, which was so tight it eventually caused her death.

At their trial, each man blamed the other for the pensioner's death '“ but the jury found they had both been equally responsible for the murder.

The judge described how the men had left Mrs Tizard to die alone in the flat: "Wyatt testified that she was still alive but gurgling when they left. Her death by strangulation would have been an agonising one. Her murder was truly horrific."

He added: "While I am prepared to proceed on the basis that neither intended Mrs Tizard should die, they both must have realised that, having beaten her and applied the ligature, there was a very high risk of death after they had left the premises.

"While they did not enter the flat with the intention of killing the occupant or inflicting grievous bodily harm on her, the attack on Mrs Tizard, particularly the application of the ligature, was cold-bloodedly ruthless."

He said that, although Rattigan was only 21 at the time of the murder, he was the 'stronger character', bringing a malign influence to bear on Wyatt, who was then 28.

He added the pair's conduct had not been 'sufficiently exceptional' to justify any reduction in their minimum jail term, despite their good progress in prison.

The judge did, however, rule that the 11 months Wyatt and Rattigan served on remand before being sentenced will count towards their minimum jail terms. The ruling means they can apply for parole in early 2017.

However, they will only then be freed if they can convince the Parole Board it is safe to do so. When released, they will remain on perpetual 'life licence', subject to prison recall if they put a foot wrong.