Northampton mum shares family's heartache at how son's killer could be released from prison in 18 months following appeal

The mum of a Northampton teenager says her family is "in bits" at the idea their boy's killer could be released from prison after serving only four years following a Court of Appeal ruling.

Louis Ryan Menezes was 17 when he was stabbed in the heart by Amari Smith in a sudden confrontation on Drayton Walk, Kingsthorpe, in May 2018.

Smith, who was 18 when he was jailed, was convicted of manslaughter in September last year and sentenced to nine years and four months in a youth detention centre.

But on Friday (August 21), the Court of Appeal quashed Smith's sentence and reduced his jail term down to eight years.

Offenders in the UK are able to serve half their sentence "on licence", meaning they are released under conditions and police supervision, and can be sent back to prison if they break these terms.

It means, combined with the 16 months Smith had already spent in custody in the run up to his sentencing, Smith could be released from youth detention in as much as 18 months.

Now, Louis' mum Cheri Curran has told the Chronicle & Echo how it felt to attend what has now been the third court procedure over her son's death only to see his killer have their sentenced reduced.

"We couldn't believe it," she said. "The rug was pulled out from underneath us. We drove straight home from London just in tears.

It is understood that the justices in the case reduced Smith's jail term after ruling that Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking - who presided over the manslaughter case - had not given enough wait to Smith's belief that he was attacking in self-defence when he stabbed Louis.

By contrast, in her sentencing remarks in September 2019, Judge Lucking called the attack "a genuine but mistaken and unreasonable" belief that he was defending himself. Smith's starting point before mitigation had been 14 years

Evidence in the case heard Louis had a kitchen knife tucked in his waistband during the confrontation, but it was never produced.

Cheri said: "Our stance has always been that Amari carried a knife with him that day, and if you take a knife out you intend to use it.

"We know Louis took a knife out with him too. And he was wrong. But Amari had one as well and two wrongs don't make a right.

"And now he'll be out in 18 months, in time for his 21st birthday - how wonderful - while we're all still in tears.

"There's another pandemic on right now, and it's called knife crime."

Louis Ryan Menezes, 17, was an aspiring motorbike mechanic and had been in Northampton that weekend to spend a night with his friends.

When his family last saw him, the teenager was "bubbly and happy" and looking forward to his weekend.

His last words to his mother Cheri, who dropped him off in Drayton Walk just hours before the stabbing, were: "I love you, mum."