In a bizarre jailhouse rant, a convicted killer has launched a tirade against an “unfair” prison sentence for assault and insisted he was “a nice person”.

Graham Langley, 38, said a jail sentence he received last month of up to 99 years was unfair since he only got five years in prison for killing a man 17 years ago.

Whining Langley, in a letter sent to the Sutton Guardian this week, also boasted that the family of the man he killed would agree.

Langley, of Cressingham Grove, Sutton, was jailed in 1994 for just five years after killing brilliant student Alex Vaill in an attack in Sutton High Street the year before.

In December last year, Langley was handed an indeterminate jail sentence, with a minimum of 30 months, after being found guilty of grievous bodily harm at Croydon Crown Court.

He was convicted of breaking a man’s jaw in the toilets of the Prince Regent pub in Sutton High Street, on February 1, 2010.

Following his sentence Langley wrote: “The message that this is giving is simple. You get life in prison for hurting someone, but you will only receive five years for taking a life. Where is the justice in that?”

Langley also objected to being described as a “thug”.

He wrote: “As far as being violent and aggressive is concerned, as a person and being myself I am neither.

“I will admit though that some times in the past, when I was under the influence of alcohol, I was prone to a bit of a brawl if I was backed up against a wall and also if I felt offended.

“But when sober, a very nice person who would do anything for anyone if I can.”

Alex Vaill’s father Terry Vaill had a different view on Langley’s skewed version of the law.

Speaking from his home in Eastbourne yesterday, Mr Vaill, 70, said: “It is sad that 17 years later [Langley] appears to still have the same attitude to life and the public in general.

“We strongly resent the fact he feels entitled to say what we think. Had we had hanging, he should have been hanged for killing Alex.

“It was murder in my eyes, though they prosecuted him for manslaughter.

“I hope this moronic waste of space spends the rest of his miserable existence in prison and I intend to do anything I can to make sure he is unable to inflict any further outrages on society.”

In his most recent outburst, Langley launched an unprovoked attack on a 40-year-old man in a pub toilet cubicle.

The assault left the man with a fractured cheek bone and other facial injuries.

Witnesses had seen Langley talking to the victim in the pub prior to the attack and officers found forensic evidence which linked him to the scene.

He was given an indeterminate sentence, which means he has no automatic right to be released, instead he must serve a minimum prison term.

The parole board must then decide, based on the risk to society, how much longer he should spend in prison – if the risk is great enough, they can impose a life sentence.

Once released, if he reoffends, he can be recalled to prison at any point if he is deemed a risk to society.

Langley wrote: “Is it fair that in 1993 a respectable man lost his life having an argument in a moment of madness, to which I was sentenced for five years? I was released in four.

“Is it fair that I have now been sentenced to an indeterminate sentence for supposedly fracturing another man’s cheekbone? I am more than sure though that alike myself, my partner and my family, Mr Vaill’s family and friends do not find this fair in any way.”

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