A man who stabbed a York university student to death in the street has been granted leave to appeal his life sentence with a minimum of 12 years.

Paul Crowther, 36, of Elm Way, Birstall, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in September after admitting the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of his former girlfriend, 21-year-old student Bethany Fields.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum of 12 years for the attack in Huddersfield in September last year.

Today, a spokesman for the Court of Appeal Criminal Division in London confirmed that Crowther has been given leave to appeal the sentence.

His guilty plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown following the submission of psychiatric reports.

Crowther was detained in a mental hospital and jailed for life. If the Hospital Order is no longer deemed necessary, he will be transferred to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

The court heard that emergency services were called to Fitzwilliam Street in Huddersfield in the early evening of September 12, 2019, to a report that a woman had been seriously injured.

Miss Fields had suffered fatal stab wounds at the scene and Crowther was arrested shortly afterwards.

After he was sentenced, her family said he should never be released as “there can be no cure for evil”.

Miss Fields was studying environmental geography at the University of York. She worked for a charity supporting people with disabilities through music and dance and had been in a relationship with Crowther.

The court heard that she tried to help him with his longstanding mental health problems but it became too much for her to cope with and she ended their relationship.

Crowther then sent abuse and threats to Miss Fields who reported him to police saying she was “scared and frightened of what he will do”.

He confronted her in the street and brutally assaulted her in front of witnesses, many of whom were left traumatised.

After the sentencing hearing, the Fields family said: “Paul Crowther, we believe, is a highly dangerous, evil narcissist, capable of extreme violence.

“We firmly believe he will always be a danger to the public. He is a pathological liar who lacks any form of empathy.

“We are in absolutely no doubt he should never be released.”