Man who murdered Bushey antiques dealer avoids life sentence

A gay escort from Chelmsford whose conviction for murdering a Bushey antiques dealer was overturned last year has avoided a life sentence – after top judges said he is not a danger to the public. Michael Brennan, 24, stabbed 54-year-old Paul Simons to death in a ‘shocking and savage’ attack in May 2013. He was convicted of murder, but saw that reduced to manslaughter on the basis that his ‘diminished responsibility’ defence should have succeeded. And, after hearing evidence from two psychiatric experts that there has been a ‘profound change’ in Brennan’s mental state, his previous life sentence was replaced with a conventional jail term of 15 years. For more on this read the next edition of My Bushey News.