Andrew Mervyn Sumpton sentenced for 2008 unlicensed driving while in prison for murder

A 60-year-old NSW man serving 29 years imprisonment for a brutal 2012 murder has appeared in the Toowoomba court for a 2008 unlicensed driving charge.

In a strange case, a South Grafton man serving 29 years for a grisly murder has appeared before the Toowoomba Magistrates Court for driving unlicensed in 2008.

Andrew Mervyn Sumpton, 60 appeared over AVL from prison where he had been for the last 13 years following a high profile 2012 NSW murder.

Sumpton was sentenced to 29 years imprisonment in 2014 after he brutally bashed a woman’s face with a statue, fatality stabbed her 24 times followed by starting a fire around her body with sheets in what was described as a “sexually charged attack”.

Sumpton then raised the alarm and waited as authorities arrived and even pretended to help firefighters battle the blaze.

Sumpton appeared in high spirits over AVL as he pleaded guilty to his 2008 driving while unlicensed charge which occurred on Taylor Street on October 25.

Sumpton said he had lost his license for five years in 2005 at the Warwick court and had been driving for work purposes.

He said shortly after being detected driving unlicensed he had moved to South Australia missing his court date which eventually fell through the cracks.

Sumpton even produced and showed his 2008 arrest warrant to Magistrate M Howden and joked they’d caught him already.

Magistrate Howden sentenced Sumpton to a two year loss of license but noted “not that it matters” as Sumpton still had close to 16 years to serve.

Originally published as Andrew Mervyn Sumpton sentenced for 2008 unlicensed driving while in prison for murder