Tory MP Dehenna Davison wants to tackle 'lenient' sentencing for one-punch assaults 14 years after her father was killed outside Sheffield pub

Dehenna Davison, the Bishop Auckland MP, spoke out on the issue on the 14th anniversary of the death of her father Dominic, who was just 35 when he was killed outside The Bassett in 2007.

Writing in the Northern Echo newspaper, she said the punch which killed her father hit him in exactly the wrong spot, causing an artery to burst, and he died almost instantly.

Speaking last year in Parliament about what happened, she recalled her family's horror that his attacker was released from prison after just 18 months.

The former Sheffield High School for Girls pupil wrote: "Alongside trying to process the grief and shock of losing dad so suddenly, there was also the pressure and uncertainty of the court case, which took 10 months to complete, and ultimately left us with a burning sense of injustice."

She was surprised by how many other families have been similarly affected by one-punch attacks and said there was a shared feeling that sentencing was too lenient.

Now a 'blue wall' MP who took office after winning her seat in the 2019 General Election, she said she could try to do something about the issue and has set up the All Party Parliamentary Group for One-Punch Assaults (APPG).

Its key role will be to make a formal inquiry into sentencing and to make a report with proposals to make sure the courts "provide a fairer sense of justice".

Ms Davison said the group will also look at educating people about the true impact of violence. And she added: "Once we have our set of proposals, I intend to approach the Government and do all I can to get the system changed for the sake of victims and their families and loved ones."

She wrote: "For every life lost, a grieving family and circle of friends is left behind, finding it difficult to process how “something like this could happen to us”.

"And, having spoken in depth to local charity, One Punch North East, about the families they are supporting, the burning sense of injustice is not something that only my family felt.

"There is a sense that sentencing is too lenient. When I was still a teenager, I knew I wanted to do something in life to ensure those who have to go through this feel that justice is done.

"Now that I am lucky enough to have been elected, I am fortunate that I have a platform for making big changes."

The inaugural meeting will be on Tuesday February 23 and the MP says shas already spoken with a Minister about the APPG and its objectives.

In an interview last year with The Yorkshire Post, Ms Davison said her father's death was part of the reason she became interested in politics.

“It was obviously a really difficult time for the whole family and we went through the court system for a few years, and what I saw from that was what I felt a huge sense of injustice, not only because my family had been directly affected, not just because we lost a really incredible human, but I saw lots of ways where I thought the court system was perhaps not working to its best.”

Before becoming an MP, Ms Davison studied British Politics and Legislative Studies at the University of Hull, and worked for a year as a parliamentary aide for the now Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

She stood, unsuccessfully, in Hull City Council elections, and for Parliament as the Conservative candidate for Hull North in 2015, and then for Sedgefield in County Durham in 2017.

But in the 2019 election Ms Davison won with a 7,962 majority, and became the first Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland since the constituency’s creation in 1885.

APPGs are informal cross-party groups that have no official status within Parliament. They are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, though many choose to involve individuals and organisations from outside Parliament in their administration and activities.