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Staffordshire murderer fails to get sentence cut

A man who stabbed a partygoer to death in Staffordshire has failed to persuade top judges to reduce his sentence.

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Daniel Allott killed 23-year-old Connan McLeod with a large kitchen knife after a row broke out at a house party in Whitemill Lane, Stone, in April last year.

Allott, aged 27, of Bagots Oak, Stafford, was jailed for life at Stafford Crown Court in October last year, having been convicted of murder.

He was ordered to serve at least 23 years behind bars before he could even apply for parole.

A jury rejected his argument that he had taken up the knife because he was 'scared' and had been acting in 'lawful self defence'.

Lawyers for Allott asked Lady Justice Sharp, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker and Judge Eleri Rees, sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, to reduce his minimum term.

They argued that he had not brought the knife to the party and that the stabbing had been a spur of the moment decision.

They also submitted that Allott suffered some provocation, although falling short of a legal defence.

Mr McLeod died after being stabbed in the chest by Allott after an earlier fight between the pair flared up.

Allott and his victim had been in a park near to the party when an argument broke out, culminating in Allott smashing a beer bottle over Mr McLeod's head.

The pair then made up but Mr McLeod went back to the party later with friends. A second confrontation led to a fist fight between Mr McLeod and Allott's cousin.

It was during that fracas that Allott grabbed a kitchen knife from the flat and ran outside, stabbing his victim fatally in the side.

Rejecting Allott's appeal, Judge Rees said: "The minimum term imposed by the judge was well within the relevant bracket for a murder using a knife.

"This was deliberate use of a knife taken to the scene and there was little mitigation.

"We do not consider this minimum term to be manifestly excessive."

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