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Woman who killed journalist has sentence slashed

A woman who stabbed a former regional press journalist to death a decade ago has had her sentence slashed.

Deborah Taylor, pictured left, was 17 when she and boyfriend Lee Whiteley murdered Peter England, a former reporter with the Wilmslow Advertiser, at a house party on New Year’s Eve 2001.

She was due to serve at least 15 years behind bars. That was later cut to 14 years by the Appeal Court and has now been slashed again due to her ‘execptional behaviour’ in prison, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Her minimum term has now been cut to 12 years and nine months, meaning she can apply for release on parole in early 2015.

She would previously have had to wait until November 2016.

A prison report described her as a pleasure to have on the wing. Taylor has raised over £1,000 for the Dogs for the Disabled charity and has been studying for a psychology degree.

She has also been closely involved in the New Leaf Programme that works to deter young girls from lives of crime.

Mr England, 54, who also had a career with the BBC and Daily Mail before returning to Wilmslow as a radio reporter, was stabbed 34 times in the face and body after he invited Deborah Taylor and Lee Whiteley into his Stockport flat.

The killers later went on a spending spree using his credit card.