Maslin’s appeal a ‘kick in the teeth’ for Hollie Gazzard’s family

Killer Asher Maslin has been granted permission to appeal his sentence after he stabbed his ex-girlfriend Hollie Gazzard to death.

The 22-year-old was handed down a life sentence with a minimum of 24 years behind bars after he admitted murdering the 20-year-old hairdresser at work in a Gloucester salon.

The Court of Appeal confirmed on Monday morning that Maslin had been granted permission to appeal that minimum tariff given to him by Mr Justice Teare.

A date is yet to be set for Maslin’s case to be heard in front of three judges at the London court to see if his sentence will be reduced.

In July, Gloucester Crown Court heard jealous Maslin stabbed pretty Hollie 14 times as she worked in Fringe Benefits and La Bella Beauty salon in Southgate Street on February 18.

He had pawned a DVD player to buy a knife before carrying out the frenzied attack in front of Hollie from Churchdown’s colleagues and salon customers.

Murder attracts an automatic life sentence and a judge decides how long the offender must spend behind bars before they are able to be considered for parole.

Mr Teare told Maslin of Benhall Gardens when he jailed him it was a “merciless killing” of his former girlfriend who had ended it just four days earlier.

News of the appeal was a devastating blow for Hollie’s family.

Dad Nick said: “We were made aware of the appeal by probation services that Maslin had been granted permission.

“We shall be attending the appeal in London. It is a kick in the teeth for us as we felt the original sentence was justice for Hollie.

“Talking to various people around us advising at the time and they were confident that it was the right sentence.

“Now the appeal has been granted, we will just have to see what the High Court judges decide. It is very disheartening for the whole family.”

Steve Young, the legal representative for Maslin, said the appeal process won’t happen overnight and could stretch into 2015.

“We don’t have much comment to make at this stage as a date for the appeal has not yet been set,” he said.

“The single judge has granted the appeal so we will be pressing ahead as soon as we can.

“It is impossible to say how long it will take. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the sentence is, the longer it takes to deal with because they tend to deal with shorter sentences sooner.

“From Asher’s point of view, it is good news that the single judge has granted the leave, we will now have to wait for the full court of appeal.”

A trust has been established in Hollie’s name to help domestic abuse victims.

It is supporting two major charities in Gloucester the Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service and Increase the Peace.

The GDASS is a county-wide service designed to reduce the level of domestic abuse and improve the safety of victims and their families.

By providing an outreach service in all districts, it aim to reduce the number of high risk cases and cases where people are forced to flee.

Increase The Peace is a young people’s initiative and was established in 2008 following a donation from safer Gloucester to promote peace and divert young people away from Anti Social Behaviour (ASB), gun and knife crime and gang association.

It also aims to increase community spirit and promote the positive side of urban music by getting young people to put their feelings on crime and anti-social behaviour down in music

Nick said the trust has received huge support since its launch.

“Hollie’s trust has gone really well so far and that is very positive for the causes that it has been set up to help.

“It has gone from strength to strength, hopefully that will continue.”

To find out more about the Hollie Gazzard Trust or to donate, go online at http://holliegazzard.org.uk