Three Poles who murdered a British graduate could have their life sentences slashed after foreign courts approved a plea to move them back to their homeland.
The evil trio were each given a minimum of 32 years in jail after they carefully plotted the death of Catherine Wells-Burr, whose body was found in her burnt-out car.
But the government is now considering whether Rafal Nowak – who posed as Catherine’s doting boyfriend – and his jealous mistress Anna Lagwinowicz can be deported to Poland.
This would mean they could be released SEVEN YEARS earlier because of more lenient Polish sentencing guidelines.
Lagwinowicz’s uncle Tadevsz Dmytryszyn – who helped her dispose of Catherine’s body – is also in the process of negotiating a similar deal.
Callous Nowak, 31, suffocated Catherine with a pillow as she slept at the home they shared in Chard, Somerset, in September 2012.
The body of the 23-year-old was taken in her red Ford Focus to a layby in Ashill a few miles away where his lover Lagwinowicz, 32, and Dmytryszyn, 38, were waiting.
They waited until 6am to give Nowak time to get to work before they poured petrol inside the car and set it on fire with Catherine’s body strapped in the driver’s seat.
The trio all denied murdering Catherine but were found guilty in June following a seven-week trial at Bristol Crown Court.
According to Catherine’s mum Jayne, 47, Nowak and Lagwinowicz have appealed to the Polish authorities to be deported so they can serve their sentence – minus seven years – at home.
She says the plea has been approved in Poland and the proposal has been passed to the UK authorities to rubber-stamp.
It is is currently being considered by the Ministry of Justice.
Speaking from her home in Chard, Somerset, Jayne said: “We just can’t believe they are even having to think about it.
“Nowak and Anna are trying to get back to Poland – I guess the British prisons are just too much for them.
“I am in absolute despair – we are all distraught.
“If they are successful they will get seven years off.
“These three are highly dangerous people who systematically plotted and planned Catherine’s murder.
“They can move on. We feel like if they are allowed to go back to Poland they are being rewarded.
“They get less time and a fresh start – while we are left with the real life sentence of a life without Catherine.
“If they go over to Poland nobody will know when they come to be released if they are remorseful for their actions.
“They never showed any sorrow and any remorse at all in court.
“Over there we will have no say when it comes to parole. Our thoughts will never be taken into consideration.
“I feel we have been let down. The British justice system worked really hard to secure these convictions and this just makes a mockery of them.
“Of course it was never going to bring Catherine back but we felt that that the sentencing reflected a small degree of our loss.
“We knew that in 32 years time they would have to face our loss again in our victim impact statements and it made us feel reassured that Catherine and our loss would not be forgotten in the process.
“But, here they are flouting the system.
“We feel we have been let down by our own government because they should not even be considering it.
“For what they have done to us, for the life sentence they have given us, it is outrageous.
“If a crime is done in this country and Catherine is British, why are we letting the Polish do this to us?
“It has made a joke of the sentences and shows we are bowing down to the EU.”
Jayne – who has not been contacted by Polish authorities about the appeal – found out when a Polish friend read about the hearings on a website.
She says the trio would face lighter sentences in their homeland because Polish law does not take into consideration planning and means of disposal of the body when setting tariffs.
In a bid to block their deportation, she has written to David Cameron, Theresa May and Secretary of State for Justice Chris Grayling.
During the trial, Bristol Crown Court heard Catherine was in a deadly love triangle with two-timing Nowak and Lagwinowicz who despised her.
Nowak and Lagwinowicz decided to kill her last September in a bid to grab her six-figure life insurance and share of her house.
Before the murder they planted messages trying to suggest that business analyst Catherine, who also worked with Nowak, was having an affair.
The killers also created fake profiles for blameless Catherine on sex websites – and even left her car at a notorious ‘dogging’ spot.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual cases.”
