A CAMPAIGN to increase the jail term given to the teenager who killed Liberty Templeman has gained support.

The 15-year-old former Brightlingsea schoolgirl was beaten unconscious, strangled, indecently assaulted and then left face down in a stream, in New Zealand, in November 2008.

Her killer, Hermanus Theodorus Kriel, now aged 16, was last week sentenced to 11-and-a-half years without parole for her murder.

On Monday the Gazette revealed Libby’s maternal grandmother, Monica Hempstead, had launched a petition in her home town of Brightlingsea, calling for changes to be made to the sentencing structure.

Her fight is backed by family and friends in the town.

A similar petition has been launched by Libby’s parents, Andrew and Rebecca, and younger brother Billy in New Zealand, and an online petition calling for tougher penalties in murder cases there has already received almost 600 signatures, just days after it is launched.

Libby’s paternal grandmother, Gill Templeman, who lives in Stanway, has added her voice to the cause.

The 73-year-old said: “I feel the New Zealand law is based on our law, and a lot of our sentencing in this country is farcical and it’s the same in New Zealand.

“I think you can get a tougher sentence for money fraud than for taking somebody’s life.

“We were hoping the boy – I can’t use his name – would get a decent sentence for the very terrible deed he committed.

“This was just a slap on his wrist. By the time he’s 28 he’ll be out eating dinner around his family’s dining room table, and Libby will never be doing the same with her family.

“As my grandson poignantly put it, they don’t sit at the dining table any more, because there’s an empty space.”

The pensioner appealed directly to other parents, teenagers the same age as Liberty and others to sign the petition.

To sign the petition visit www.petitiononline.com/Libby/petition.html or join the Facebook group, Justice for Liberty Rose Templeman.