Neo-Nazi who shot dead ex-City lawyer Luke Holland given shorter jail term as he was drunk

Luke Holland was shot dead outside a Berlin nightclub by neo-Nazi
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The family of a former City lawyer shot dead by a neo-Nazi in Berlin today hit out after his killer received a reduced jail term because he was drunk.

The gunman, named in Germany only as Rolf Z for legal reasons, blasted Luke Holland in the stomach with a shotgun as he left the Del Rex club in the German capital last September.

The Oxford University business graduate, 31, had moved to Germany the year before to launch a mobile phone music firm, following five years as a solicitor for law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Fleet Street.

He had been drinking with a friend in the nightclub, which is popular with foreigners, when he was shot outside by Rolf Z, who witnesses described as “dressed as a cowboy”.

Under German law the trial took place on a number of days spread over the months since March, and was overseen by a team of judges. It involved a public prosecutor and a separate lawyer for Mr Holland’s family.

Devastated: Rita Holland with a photograph of her son
EPA

After father-of-three Rolf Z was found guilty the family’s lawyer pushed for him to receive a life sentence, with a minimum term of 15 years.

But the public prosecutor argued he should be sentenced to 11 years and eight months on the basis of diminished criminal responsibility because he was drunk.

He also claimed Mr Holland had not suffered, and it could not be proved it was a hate crime, the family said.

Mr Holland’s cousin Craig McElhinney today told the Standard: “I just don’t understand their legal system. His parents texted me just to say, ‘We are relieved it’s all over’.

They know nothing will bring their son back but they are furious that the defence gets to appeal to shorten the sentence even further but they don’t get a chance to demand a longer time.”

Phil and Rita Holland, 62, from Stockport, confronted their son’s killer while he was in the dock at Berlin regional court. Mrs Holland showed him a photograph of her son, but he simply shrugged, smiled and said: “English.”

Rolf Z had been involved in a heated row with “foreigners” in a nearby bar a few weeks before Mr Holland’s murder. When he was arrested, police found ammunition and illegal Nazi memorabilia in his flat.

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