What has happened to date in killer Timothy Brehmer's case

To be precise, 305 days have elapsed since he inflicted the fatal injury on his long-term lover.

Less than five months have gone by since he was acquitted of murder and jailed after admitting manslaughter.

Today, the Court of Appeal is due to begin proceedings in relation to the former Dorset Police officers attempts to have his prison sentence reduced.

• LIVE: updates on killer former PC Timothy Brehmer's Court of Appeal hearing

Meanwhile, at the same hearing, the case will be made for the sentence of 10 years and six months to be extended following a referral by the Attorney General’s Office.

Mrs Parry, who was a nurse, died in hospital after, 41 and of Hordle, New Forest, strangled her in the car park of the Horns Inn pub in West Parley.

Brehmer stood trial for murder at Salisbury Crown Court in October last year but was found not guilty by an 11-person jury.

Timothy Brehmer was previously a police constable with Dorset Police

Ahead of today’s hearing, the following summarises the events that led to Mrs Parry’s death, the outcome of Brehmer’s trial and the appeal process.

Manslaughter admission, murder acquittal

During the two-week trial, it was heard that Brehmer had been having an extramarital affair with Mrs Parry, 41, for a prolonged period. The pair met in 2005 when Brehmer was on a job in the police force.

Over the next six years their relation was described as “sexually flirtatious” and “infrequent” by Brehmer during the trial. This developed into an “on and off” affair.

This relationship was “compartmentalised” from their respective marriages but Brehmer said it went “bonkers” when his relationship with Mrs Parry started to lead to the breakdown of her marriage.

On the evening of May 6, 2020, Mrs Parry had exchanged messages with a former partner of Brehmer, which “opened Mrs Parry’s eyes”. Messages to Brehmer followed with accusations of him cheating on her and she threatened to tell his wife about the affair.

The pair agreed to meet at the Horns Inn pub at 3pm on May 9 and when they did Mrs Perry sent a text on Brehmer’s phone to his wife which said “I’m cheating on you”.

Brehmer stabbed himself and factory reset his phone. He claimed he asked Mrs Parry to get out the car and when she refused he walked around the front of the car to the passenger door and tried pulling her out.

After failing, he “bundled in” to push her out. He said he had his arm around the top of her chest and it “must have slipped up in the melee” which resulted in Mrs Parry dying of a brain injury due to compression to the neck.

At around 3.20pm Brehmer was seen walking to the entrance of the pub and sitting on the ground.

Mrs Parry was left “half in, half out” the car unconscious, she died in hospital the next day. A bone in her neck was broken and she died of a brain injury due to compression to the neck.

Claire Parry, 41, died in hospital after the incident

• Read more: He has robbed our children of a million hugs and kisses from their mummy'

Brehmer, who was seconded to the National Police Air Service team at Bournemouth Airport, was subsequently arrested and charged with murder.

At Winchester Crown Court in July last year, the father-of-one pleaded guilty to an offence of manslaughter but denied murder. This plea to manslaughter was not acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service and a trial followed in October at Salisbury.

During the trial, evidence was given from a variety of people, including former partners of the defendant, people who arrived at the scene of the incident, a prison officer, Mrs Parry’s husband Andrew, friends of Brehmer and Brehmer himself.

Following two hours and 50 minutes of deliberations, the jury unanimously found him not guilty of murder.

• Read more: Jury acquit Dorset Police officer of murder following two week trial

Mr Parry described Brehmer as the “worst kind of thief” after the verdict had been given.

Judge Mr Justice Richard Jacobs sentenced the defendant on the basis that he lost control during the row with Mrs Parry.

Brehmer was handed a sentence of 10 years and six months imprisonment, with him serving two thirds of this in custody and the rest on licence.

Timothy Brehmer has appealed to have his prison sentence reduced

After the trial Dorset Police confirmed a misconduct hearing had taken place in private, with Brehmer dismissed from the force and placed on the national barred list.

• Read more: Timothy Brehmer sentenced for "losing control" and "deliberately taking victim by the neck"

Appeals lodged

Following a sentence being passed, defendant’s have 28 days to seek permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal by serving a notice and grounds of appeal.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General – the chief legal adviser to the Crown – has the same time period to refer crown court sentences for certain offences, which includes manslaughter, to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that they feel it is unduly lenient and should be extended.

The following guidance in law says a sentence is unduly lenient “where it falls outside the range of sentences which the judge, applying his mind to all the relevant factors, could reasonably consider appropriate. In that connection, regard must of course be had to reported cases and in particular to the guidance given by this Court from time to time in the so-called guideline cases”.

It adds: “However it must always be remembered that sentencing is an art rather than a science; that the trial judge is particularly well placed to assess the weight to be given to various competing considerations; and that leniency itself is not a vice. That mercy should season justice is a proposition as soundly based in law as in literature.”

Timothy Brehmer, inset, caused Claire Parry's death at The Horns Inn pub car park in West Parley

As reported by the Daily Echo, Brehmer lodged his appeal in the required time to attempt to have the sentence reduced, while the Solicitor General – the Attorney General's deputy – submitted the appeal for extension before 28 days had elapsed.

• Read more: Killer Timothy Brehmer's appeal hearing set
• Read more: Former PC Timothy Brehmer applies to appeal sentence

The appeal hearing at The Royal Courts of Justice in London is due to begin at 10.30am on Wednesday, March 10, before Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Lambert.

It is often the case that judgements in appeal cases are handed down at a later date.