Wirral parents who killed their baby have sentences increased

A couple who "fatally battered" their three-month-old son have had their "unduly lenient" sentences for murder increased.

Klevi Pirjani, 38, and 35-year-old Nivalda Pirjani, from Wirral, Merseyside, were sentenced in April to a minimum of 19 years and 15 years in April over the death of their son, 13-week-old Miguel.

The Court of Appeal has now increased Klevi Pirjani's sentence to 21 years and six months, while Nivalda Pirjani will have to serve 17 years and nine months.

Miguel was taken to Alder Hey children's hospital in November 2024. He had severe head injuries and died five days after being admitted.

Miguel was found to have suffered 41 separate bone fractures in at least four separate incidents.

The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves, referred their sentences to the Court of Appeal, with barristers for the government arguing that the original sentences did not "meet the justice of this terrible case".

Lord Justice Jeremy Baker, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mr Justice Hilliard, said the pair subjected their son to "routine" assaults which increased in severity, and culminated in his "particularly callous" murder.

He said: "We take the view that the resulting sentences significantly underestimated the aggravating factors, to the extent that not only do we consider that the minimum terms were unduly lenient, but that we should set them aside."

Bill Emlyn Jones KC, for the Attorney General, said in written submissions that Miguel's death was caused by an assault by his parents on 24 November 2024, which involved "a heavy blow, or series of blows, to the right side of his head".

Paramedics arrived two minutes after his parents called 999 following Miguel suffering a cardiac arrest at their home in Percy Road, Seacombe, Merseyside, but he never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead five days later.

Emlyn Jones said that while the boy was in hospital, a "wider picture of long-standing physical abuse emerged", including the discovery of multiple fractured ribs, fractured legs and a fractured sternum suffered across several incidents before the fatal attack.

He also said that while it could not be ascertained whether Klevi Pirjani or Nivalda Pirjani inflicted the fatal violence, "whichever it was, they did so with the encouragement of their partner".

Sentencing them in March, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said the pair were "in this together, encouraging each other" to attack their "defenceless" son.

He said that who "fatally battered" the infant "remains the guilty secret of a warped relationship, in which you came first for each other to an unnatural degree".

Rupert Bowers KC, for Nivalda Pirjani, acknowledged in court that "of course" her sentence was lenient, but that the sentencing judge "considered all of the factors".

He said: "There is nothing that would indicate that the sentences he passed are beyond the ambit of reasonableness, or an error of principle, so that this court should interfere with his exercise of discretion, having heard all the evidence."

Sarah Vine KC, for Klevi Pirjani, also said her client's sentence was "undoubtedly lenient, but not unduly, and leniency in itself is not a vice".

Klevi and Nivalda Pirjani, watching proceedings from HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire and HMP Styal in Cheshire respectively, showed no reaction as their sentences were increased.

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Couple who murdered three-month-old son jailed