The family of an elderly couple killed in an arson attack have criticised the justice system for "favouring criminals" after learning that two of those convicted of the couple's manslaughter will serve only half their sentences in prison. Sheila Jackson, 83, and Eric Greener, 77, who had been together for 30 years, died in a fire started as part of a revenge plot. Their relatives said Kylie Maynard and Lee Owens had "essentially gotten away with it" because prisons were too full to keep them behind bars, blaming Labour's early-release reforms.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the attack, in the early hours of 15 July last year, was masterminded by drug dealer Kevin Weetman, whose intended target was Mrs Jackson's 48-year-old son, George, who lived with the couple. Mr Jackson was in dispute with Weetman over a £400 bag of cocaine that he said had been given to him as a "thank you" gift for letting Maynard, 37, one of Weetman's low-level dealers, stay with him after she was assaulted. When Mr Jackson refused to sell the drugs on Weetman's behalf, Weetman resolved to "burn" him out as punishment, recruiting fellow dealers Owens, 46, and Paul Smith, 40, to set the fire that instead killed the innocent grandparents.