A career criminal who laughed and shouted “what a result!” after being found guilty of the Timperley Post Office gas explosion has had his sentence increased by six and a half years by the Court of Appeal.
Mark Marfleet, 37, from Sale, mixed oxygen and the flammable gas acetylene to blow the front off the Stockport Road ATM – he and accomplice Paul Warisham also attempted to blow up the cash machine at Barclays Bank on Park Road in Timperley – before escaping on a motorbike.
His June 2015 attack on Timperley Post Office caused £138,000 of damage to the post office, forcing it to shut for three months and leaving the owner £15,000 out of pocket.
And a single mum who was asleep in the flat above was woken by an explosion which was so powerful it demolished her staircase and ripped through the ground floor area – while her four-year-old son was left “traumatised”.
In November, he was found guilty at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester and sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison, a punishment that led to Marfleet giggling and saying “what a result” after he learned he could be free in less than six years after the judge ruled that half his prison stretch should be served on parole.
But after a referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme by the Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP, the Court of Appeal has today increased his sentence to 18 years.
His accomplice Warisham, 35, from Sale, who had been jailed for eight and a half years after he admitted conspiracy to steal, saw his sentence increased to 13 years.
The pair were also responsible for an explosion at Partington Service Station and an attempt to blow up the ATM at Barclays Bank on Park Road in Timperley.
In total, over £50,000 was stolen and the three explosion caused damage totalling more than £70,000.
And while on bail, Marfleet took part in an armed robbery at a convenience store on Old Hall Road in Sale with an unidentified man, during which the shopkeeper was doused in petrol.
Following the hearing, the Solicitor General said: “The actions of these offenders showed a serious lack of consideration for the safety of those around them. The long lasting effects on the victim and her young son cannot be underestimated.
“I am pleased that the Court of Appeal has agreed that the original sentence was unduly lenient and has sought to increase the sentences given to these offenders.”
