The Burton Mail is calling on its readers to help keep the murderer of a local woman behind bars.

The campaign by the paper comes after killer David Bond’s 40-year jail sentence was slashed to 25 years, without any of the victim’s family being told.

Debbie Buxton was brutally murdered by Bond as she walked her dogs in August 1993.

The judge at the trial said he was sure that Bond would strike again if released from prison.

The same judge, Mr Justice Rougier, then almost halved the sentence – and Debbie’s family did not find out until three years later.

The Mail will be circulating petition forms around the district for people to sign and then pass on to the Home Secretary David Blunkett, in the hope that the 40-year sentence is reinstated.

The forms will be available in the newspaper’s offices around the region, and also in newsagents, post offices and pubs.

Debbie’s husband, Ron Buxton, praised the campaign.

He said: “I think it’s an excellent idea. We need to get the public to realise that these injustices are going on.

“Someone told me that 25 years is all you could expect for someone who had only killed one person but you have to remember that Bond attacked more than 10 women in a one-year period while he was out of prison, which included the murder of Debbie.

“The petition is the one way of making the Home Office and the judiciary listen to public opinion.”

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