A man who battered a church organist to death has had his application to appeal against his sentence dismissed.
Jonathan Bowling, 23, admitted bludgeoning Alan Greaves to death with a pickaxe handle close to St Saviour’s church in High Green, Sheffield, on Christmas Eve 2012.
Mr Greaves, 68, had been on his way to play the organ at Midnight Mass when he was randomly attacked by Bowling and accomplice Ashley Foster.
Foster was sentenced to nine years for manslaughter but it is Bowling who appealed his minimum term of 25 years in prison for murder.
Bowling has written a letter to Mr Greaves’ family expressing his remorse and his legal team argued that that should form part of his grounds for appeal.
However, a panel of three judges dismissed the application and Bowling will still serve a minimum of 25 years.
The Lord Chief Justice said the original sentence was “entirely appropriate”.
Mr Greaves’ widow, Maureen, who showed great dignity and forgiveness following the killing, said after the original sentencing last summer: “To think that Jonathan’s got 25 minimum and to think he’ll probably never come out, I really am wonderfully pleased with the result.”
Mrs Greaves gave a moving eulogy at her husband’s funeral in which she said: “I was determined to turn aside from hatred, vengeance, unforgiveness and speaking evil towards those who had killed him.”
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Organist Alan Greaves: Killer's Appeal Denied
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