EAST LANCASHIRE WOMAN RECEIVES LIFE SENTENCE FOR PARTNER'S MURDER
A WOMAN who stabbed her East Lancashire partner to death has been given a life sentence after police appealed against her original jail term.Peter Ormiston, 49, was killed by bank worker Ann Marie Gosling, 53, outside their flat in Ramsey, Isle of Man, in January 2004 as they returned from a night out at their local pub.
She was initially charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed for four-and-a-half years in April.
Now Gosling has been handed a "discretionary sentence of life imprisonment" after the Isle of Man's Appeal Court decided she could still pose a risk to the public and the original sentence was "unduly lenient." The family of her victim, who was born in Ramsbottom and grew up in Whalley, have spoken of their delight at the decision.
Peter's brother John, of Chapel Rise, Billington, said: "The police rang us on Wednesday morning.
They have been in contact with me all the time and I am delighted, as much as I can be.
You are delighted on the one hand and very sorry on the other.
I was totally disgusted when she was given four-and-a-half years.
It took about 18 months to get to trial, probably a bit longer, which seemed to prolong everything.
I've told my mother and my family and they've had the same reaction as me.
It has been a long, drawn-out thing." He first visited the Isle of Man in 2001, moved there in 2003, and met Gosling around 12 months before his death.
He was killed on Sunday, January 25, 2004, and was found dead by police in the road with three stab wounds.
When Gosling was tried in court she was described as having a severe personality disorder and sense of abandonment.
Because of the time she served in prison awaiting trial, she was due to be released in January.
She is serving her sentence at a secure unit at Low Newton prison in County Durham but will now undergo treatment.
She will only be released into the community slowly such as via an open prison.
The Isle of Man's legal system is different to the mainland's, and yesterday the Manx Appeal Court finished hearing an appeal into the initial sentence before officials known as a Deemster and a Judge of Appeal.
The appeal was lodged on behalf of the Isle of Man attorney general over fears that it would not be safe to release Gosling into the community.
Two experts from the UK - Dr Aideen O'Halloran, who works at the Dangerous People with Severe Personality Disorder service at Broadmoor Hospital, and Dr Asif Ramzan, Gosling's psychiatrist - gave evidence and said she would pose a risk to anyone in an 'intimate' relationship with her.
