Child killer Michael Harrison who murdered own son will not have sentence increased despite review

Michael Harrison has been jailed for a minimum of 21 and a half years after brutally murdering his son

A killer who murdered his own 11-year-old son and refused to say why, will not have his prison sentence increased despite a review.

Michael Harrison, aged 41, was jailed for life last month and ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years and six months behind bars after being convicted of the murder of his undernourished son Mikey Harrison.

The sentence was referred to the Attorney General’s Office for review under the ‘unduly lenient sentencing scheme’ but, upon review, was not sent to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration.

At trial, jurors heard how Mikey was ferociously beaten at his home address in Heanor, Derbyshire, on June 18 last year, to the extent that the young boy sustained a bleed to his liver. His dad, Michael, has never revealed the reason behind the attack.

Four hours later, and with his son in increasing pain, Harrison drove the boy to Shipley Country Park and called 999 from his van, concocting a story that Mikey had sustained the injuries falling from a tree.

He was jailed on Thursday, May 18, and appeared in the dock wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘FAMILY’ on the front.

After being sentenced, he pointed towards members of the media and said: “I will always love my family no matter what you lot say. Put whatever version you like.”

Jailing him, Judge Smith told Harrison: “You hit and punched him many times and one of the punches was so hard that you lacerated his liver – the eventual cause of his death.

“Rather than face up to what you did you made a call to the ambulance service to report that Mikey had fallen from a tree. The best efforts of doctors were not enough.”

The court heard that Mikey, who weighed just three stones and 11 pounds, went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 2.39pm on June 18 last year – five hours after the attack.

His dad claimed the injuries were sustained when Mikey ‘feel from a tree’ during a game of hide and seek. This account was dismissed as pure fiction and when police visited the home address on June 21 they found the place had been ‘stripped and cleaned’.

The Attorney General’s Office has been approached for comment.