Andrew Clark, 43, was at Sainsbury’s when an argument broke out over a man jumping the queue before he was brutally murdered outside the store in Beckenham, South London
The widow of a man who was killed after challenging a queue jumper in Sainsbury’s has issue a scathing criticism of the legal system over the sentence her husband’s killer received.
Andrew Clark, 43, had been celebrating his team Newcastle United winning, calling it ‘the best day of my life’, when he encountered Demiesh Williams while shopping at Sainsbury’s in Beckenham, South London with his wife. Williams, 30, had jumped the queue in front of Andrew, who then challenged him for pushing in.
Cairistine Clark, Andrew’s partner of 23 years, recalled that Williams reacted angrily to being challenged. Leaving the shop, he vowed to staff and customers that he would ‘get him outside’.
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Williams, who worked as a bis driver, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. After walking out of court before the judge finished speaking, Andrew’s family have slammed the sentence as ‘an absolute joke’.
“The court case was an utterly devastating day for our family,” Cairistine told the Daily Mail. “No justice has been served. There is no justice for a life taken. He won’t even serve three years in prison. It’s two Christmases and he’ll be out. He will be 32 when he gets out. And it’s an absolute joke.
“What kind of message does this sentence give to violent criminals? We will carry this loss for the rest of our lives. Yet he [Williams] will return to his. That is something I cannot understand, and I cannot accept. Sentences must reflect the severity of the crime. If this can happen to us, an ordinary family, then it can happen to you.”
Woolwich Crown Court heard that as the family left the shop Williams had approached Andrew and slapped him with an open hand. Andrew had then fallen to the ground from the blow and hit his head, dying of his injuries in hospital three days later.
“People keep talking about it being ‘only a slap’. But I’ve seen the scans. I’ve seen the damage. He killed him with his bare hands. I was only a few steps behind him. I saw everything. I heard everything. And then he was gone,” said Cairistine.
As Andrew lay severely injured, Williams fled the scene, driving away with his young child still in his car. The devastated mum said she held her husband, adding: “I’m sure he died in my arms”, as Williams “just ran”.
The case had been set to go to trial, but Williams admitted one count of manslaughter. But during sentencing, Cairistine said the family’s heartbreak was made worse as Williams made no apology for what he did. Cairistine said that the family had been unable to sit through the whole sentencing hearing, walking out.
“We couldn’t sit there any longer. It was too humiliating. It was too painful,” she said. Under the current system, Williams will be eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence. Cairistine said: “That’s barely three years. Three years for taking a life.”
She added: “Sentences need to be stronger because people are just going to reoffend. If you know that you’re gonna kill somebody and you’re gonna get three and a half years, it’s not going to stop violent people. Now Rose is growing up without her dad. He was everything to her.”
She described him as “selfless”, adding that “everybody knew him because hw as so kind, so generous and he had time for everybody.” Cairistine added: “Andrew does not deserve this. But equally, other families don’t deserve this either, because we’re the innocent victims. His death has changed everything. Every moment of our life is changed by one callous act of violence. It’s incredibly unfair.”
In a statement read out to the court by her aunt, Andrew’s 14-year-old daughter said: “My dad was not just my dad. He was my best friend. We did everything together.” She added: “You did this to my dad. My dad was the most generous man I know.
“I don’t want to live my life without him. You got to keep your family, while you destroyed mine in the cruellest way.”
In the sentencing hearing, Judge Andrew Lees said: “Andrew Clark was 43 at the time of his death. He was a hard-working family man. I have heard heartfelt statements read to the court by Andrew’s wife and his sister. What the family said in court brings home the magnitude of what has happened and the devastating loss and consequences of your actions.
“The family are dealing with unimaginable grief from which recovery is unlikely to ever be complete. By all accounts Andrew Clark was much loved, much respected, and will be much missed, and it should never have happened.”
Accounting for credit due to a guilty plea, Williams was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Of this, due to the nature of the offence he must serve at least two thirds in prison instead of the usual half before being eligible for release on licence.
Cairistine is now planning to meet the Crown Prosecution Service to address her concerns. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick told the Mail: “Williams committed an appalling crime and yet his prison sentence is paltry. A five year sentence, reduced further under the early release scheme, is not justice. I am writing to the Attorney General asking that it is reconsidered.”
