THE mother of a teenage girl who died of carbon monoxide poisoning last night branded a judge "lily-livered" after he jailed a Newport gas fitter for two years.
Grief-stricken Anne Mitchell said the sentence imposed yesterday on Scott Lee Stuart was an "embarrassment" and that Mr Justice Roderick Evans, sitting at Cardiff crown court, had "given other rogue traders carte blanche to carry on taking risks".
Mrs Mitchell, 51, found her 14-year-old daughter Alex dead on her bedroom floor in March last year after carbon monoxide from a faulty flueless fire fitted by Stuart, engulfed the home on Pentre Close, Cwmbran.
Last month Stuart, 39, of Waltwood Drive, Llanmartin, pleaded guilty to manslaughter after admitting he was not qualified to fit the gas fire equipment.
Mrs Mitchell told the Argus last night: "I can't believe the sentence. I will feel conscience when I go to the cemetery and tell Alex the man who killed her only got two years and will be out a lot sooner.
"How would he (the judge) feel if he put his keys in the door tonight and found his son or daughter dead?"
Click below on video news to see a video report of this story and interview with Mrs Mitchell.
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