Killer's sentence cut after plea by victim's family

A man serving life for murdering a stranger had his minimum jail sentence reduced by two years after the Lord Chief Justice heard that the victim's relatives had met the killer and forgiven him.

Eyjolfur Andrews, 24, the son of the actor Barry Andrews, who has appeared in The Bill on ITV, was aged 16 at the time of his conviction in December 1993. He was found guilty of murdering Amaranath Bandaratilleka, a barrister's clerk, by shooting him in the stomach with a sawn-off shotgun during a raid on a newsagents that yielded 26p.

Andrews, of Hammersmith, west London, was ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. His minimum sentence before becoming eligible for parole was set at 12 years by the Home Secretary. In September 1999 the tariff was cut to 11 years.

Yesterday the Lord Chief Justice ordered a further reduction to nine years because of his "exemplary" progress in prison, giving him the chance of being released next year.

Lord Woolf of Barnes said the dead man's closest relative, a cousin, had visited Andrews in prison more than once and believed Andrews now realised the errors of his past behaviour and the enormity of what he did. The cousin stated that neither he nor his family bore any ill-feeling toward Andrews, and wrote: "We unreservedly forgive him and hope it will not be too long before he is released to his family."

Deborah Clark, director of the Restorative Justice Consortium, said the case showed that contact between offenders and victims' families could be "important to all parties in resolving the harm done by crime".

In his ruling, Lord Woolf said Andrews had been taking drugs since he was 12 and by the age of 15 was on heroin and crack cocaine. But by the time of his trial he was drug-free and once in prison he rapidly tackled his offending behaviour. A project in which he was involved won the High Sheriff of Surrey's youth award for preventing crime.

Andrews had been highly praised for his one-to-one counselling of young people identified as being at risk of crime or drug misuse. "In so far as anyone can make amends for a crime which is so serious, Andrews appears to have done this," said Lord Woolf.

The Lord Chief Justice also yesterday reduced by 12 months to 12 years the tariff of Emma Phillips, who was 17 when she was convicted of murdering an elderly woman during a robbery.

But decided against reducing the tariff of Tasib Hussein, who was 17 when he killed a man during a robbery at a snooker hall.

The review of tariffs follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of the killers of James Bulger that it was unlawful for a Home Secretary to decide the period a juvenile should serve before being eligible for parole. The court said such decisions should be taken out of the political arena and mad by the judiciary.

Lord Woolf is currently giving priority to reviewing the tariffs of 88 young people convicted of murder and detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. A spokesman said 12 reviews had been completed and nine other cases were being considered.