Appeal court to review rocket death sentences

TWO FOOTBALL fans who killed a pensioner by firing a rocket during a match could face tougher jail sentences.

The Attorney-General has agreed to refer their case for review by Court of Appeal judges on the grounds that their three-year sentences were too lenient.

Kerry Still, 35, and his brother Andrew McAllister, 31, of Wrexham, Clwyd, were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court last May after admitting the manslaughter of John Hill, 67.

Mr Hill, a retired postman, was killed outright when he was struck by a powerful marine distress flare at the end of Wales's World Cup qualifier match with Romania in the Cardiff Arms Park stadium last November.

The court heard that the brothers had fired the 12in German-made rocket horizontally across the ground into the opposite stand, where it struck Mr Hill.

Mr Hill's son, also John, later protested that the fans had got off too lightly.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman yesterday confirmed that a file of evidence had been passed to the office of Sir Nicholas Lyell, the Attorney-General. The case will now go to the Court of Appeal in London where a hearing has been set for 10 November.