Review after complaint the jail term given to police officer who killed lover was 'unduly lenient'

A HORDLE policeman who killed his lover but was cleared of her murder is to have his 10-and-a-half-year jail term reviewed.

A complaint has been made that the sentence handed to Timothy Brehmer (41), of Woodcock Lane, is “unduly lenient”, the Attorney General Office (AGO) confirmed.

An AGO spokesperson said it could not reveal the identity of the complainant, adding: “We have received a request for the case of Timothy Brehmer to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The Law Officers have 28 days from sentencing to consider the case.”

A mother-of-two, Mrs Parry’s death related to an incident at the car park of the Horns Inn pub in Parley, near Christchurch, on 9th May.

Brehmer stood trial at Salisbury Crown Court having denied murder in relation to the incident and was cleared of that charge by a jury. He admitted a change of manslaughter.

The trial heard Mrs Parry, a nurse, had been having an affair with Brehmer for 10 years but had asked they meet as she was upset having discovered his affairs with other women.

Prosecutors claimed Brehmer strangled her in a rage after she sent a text to his wife, Martha, from his phone which said “I’m cheating on you”. However, Brehmer denied that and said he inadvertently was “responsible” for her death while trying to get her out of his car.

Handing down sentence, Judge Richard Jacobs determined Brehmer “lost his self-control” during the incident. “I am sure you deliberately took Claire Parry by the neck and applying significant force with your forearm or the crook of your elbow, for a period of time while she struggled against you, therefore causing a severe neck injury the pathologist described,” he said.

The judge outlined that Brehmer will serve two thirds of his sentence – minus the 169 days he had already spent on remand – before being released on licence.

After the punishment was announced, Dorset Police said it had sacked Brehmer from the force and he had been placed on the national barred list.

Chief Constable James Vaughan added: “As police officers our duty, first and foremost, is to protect the public and for a serving officer to take a life of another in this way is incomprehensible.

“His conduct fell dramatically below that which I, his colleagues and the public expect from a police officer and he clearly has no place holding the office of constable.”