Inmate loses appeal on prison murder

A psychotic prisoner who kicked a cell mate to death while in the "implacable grip of an urge to kill someone" has lost an appeal against his 18-year sentence.

Michael Allen Heatley, 32, was jailed after pleading guilty to the 2004 manslaughter of Craig Anthony Behr, 24, in the Long Bay Prison Hospital.

The NSW Court of Appeal has rejected Heatley's claims the sentence did not adequately reflect his guilty plea and placed too much weight on his previous criminal history.

Heatley suffered from chronic psychosis and was twice acquitted of armed robbery on the grounds of mental illness.

He smoked, sniffed and drank his dead father's ashes, and believed he was the racehorse Phar Lap.

When he kicked Behr to death Heatley was supposed to be in solitary lockdown, after telling Corrective Services officers he was having homicidal urges.

Heatley begged prison guards not to place Behr in his cell, and within an hour he was dead.

Sentencing Heatley in the NSW Supreme Court in 2006, Justice Anthony Whealy said "systemic and individual failures" on the part of prison officers had, in large part, caused Behr's death.

The 18-year-sentence accounted for the manslaughter of Behr and an unrelated armed robbery, committed in 2002 after Heatley escaped from prison on another offence.

NSW Chief Judge at Common Law Peter McClellan dismissed the appeal.

He agreed with Heatley's submission the two prior armed robberies, for which he was found not guilty on mental illness grounds, should not have been considered part of his criminal history.

However, Justice McClellan said it was merely one problem in an "otherwise complex sentencing task carried out by his Honour with great care".

"Having regard to the objective seriousness of both offences and the various aggravating and mitigating matters to which his Honour had regard and, in particular, allowing appropriate weight for the offender's mental health problems, I am not persuaded that the sentences imposed were inappropriate," he said.

"I am not satisfied that some other less severe sentence was warranted in law and should have been passed."

Justices Graham Barr and Derek Price agreed with Justice McClellan's ruling.

An inquest into Behr's death and the role of Corrective Services will resume next year.

It was adjourned in February 2005 pending Heatley's sentence and appeal.

With time already served Heatley will be eligible for parole in March 2016, at the expiration of his 12-year minimum term.


AAP 2008 2 Oct 2008