Jail terms increased for killer of a Gurkha's wife in Britain

London : A man who murdered the wife of a Gurkha by Arborfield Garrison last year has had the minimum jail term of his life sentence increased. At a hearing at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday January 15, Glenn Nelson, 30, was told by Lady Justice Hallet he must serve a minimum of 30 years rather than the 25 imposed last October. Solicitor General Oliver Heald QC MP had referred the case back to court, arguing the sentence was ‘unduly lenient’. Krishnamaya Mabo, 39, lived in Fleming Close at the garrison with husband Talleman, who has served in the Royal Gurkha Rifles in the British Army since 1990, and their three children. She went out to a woodland area to pick nettles to make a herbal drink on June 2 last year, but Nelson, who was living in a caravan on the nearby Crown Park site, violently attacked and killed her. Her body was found the following day and tests showed she had been asphyxiated. 

Nelson admitted the crime and was sentenced at Reading Crown Court last October 8, where he was also given a concurrent six-year prison sentence for attempted rape. Speaking after Nelson’s sentence was increased, Mr Heald, said: “This was an appalling and shocking case where a man set off from home with a settled intention to commit rape. “It was the misfortune of Krishnamaya Mabo, a wholly innocent victim, to encounter him. “She was murdered so as to prevent her from identifying and giving evidence again Nelson. “It is a tragic loss for Mr Mabo and his family. They will have this with them for the rest of their lives. Our thoughts are with him and all the Mabo family.” He added: “For the public, there is a sense of assurance that the Court of Appeal agreed that this sentence was too lenient.” Under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, judges can be asked to review sentences which are thought to be too soft. 

It was found that there had been no good reason for leniency in Nelson’s case, and the 30-year minimum term guideline was imposed. Nelson, of Eversley Road in Arborfield, murdered Mrs Mabo only three months after being released from prison having served 13 years for two separate cases of attempted rape. Many of those living in Arborfield said after the murder that they avoided the woodland where the attack took place, and others were outraged that they had not been warned Nelson was a convicted sex attacker when he was released from prison. The crime also caused anger among the Gurkha community, with around 300 people from around the country demonstrating outside Reading Crown court last June for Nelson’s first hearing.