Pc gunman fails in sentence bid
The gunman who tried to shoot dead Wolverhampton community policeman Geoff King this afternoon lost his appeal to have his prison sentence cut.
Marcus Bailey was jailed for life and ordered to spend a minimum of 15 years behind bars for shooting the officer twice and leaving him for dead in the Penn Fields area of the city in November 2006.
At London's Court of Appeal today, Lord Justice Moses refused the 25-year-old's application and said the severity of the sentence was justified.
The judge said it was a "miracle" Pc King had survived after Bailey deliberately aimed the gun directly at the officer and fired.
"In these circumstances there is no sensible possibility, let alone a realistic one, of persuading this court that the sentence was excessive," he told Bailey.
Bailey, formerly of Warnford Walk, Merry Hill, was found guilty of attempted murder, making use of a firearm with intent to resist arrest and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life at Birmingham Crown Court last July.
Pc King, who has now returned to work on lighter duties, was on a car crime crackdown when he spotted Bailey acting suspiciously.
Bailey shot at him three times, hitting him twice, and was later found hiding in a nearby bin.
