THE anguished parents of murdered cystic fibrosis sufferer Joe Geeling have said the minimum 12-year jail term given to his schoolboy killer was "too lenient".

Tom and Gwen Geeling believe the judge who sentenced Michael Hamer, aged 15, last month "missed the point".

Hamer subjected the 11-year-old to a "sustained and savage" attack after he lured the fellow pupil from St Gabriel's RC High School back to his house in Bury, Greater Manchester, on March 1.

After Joe spurned a sexual advance, Hamer smashed him over the head with a frying pan so hard that it broke before stabbing him 16 times. He then wheeled his body in a bin to a nearby park and tried to hide it in a tree-lined gully.

Passing a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court, Mr Justice McCombe said Hamer - who pleaded guilty to murder before the scheduled start of his trial - could be considered for parole after 12 years.

Mr Geeling said yesterday: "Joe was kidnapped and abducted. That's bad enough. He was held in that house against his will.

"He was murdered and his body was treated like a piece of garbage. He was disposed of and then that lad went to school as though nothing had happened.

"If he's capable of this now, what is he going to be capable of when he's coming out of prison? It's not out of sour grapes, it's just that we don't think that 12 years stacks up.

"To kidnap someone, to attempt to sexually abuse them, to murder them, to conceal the body . . . I don't think it stacks up.

"We do feel the judge missed the point. I feel it was too lenient. It shouldn't have got what we feel is a minimum sentence. I don't have a figure per se - that's the judge's judgment."

The Crown Prosecution Service has asked the Attorney General to consider an appeal against the sentence. A decision on the request is expected by the end of this month.

The Geelings said they were unsure whether they could forgive Hamer for killing their son. Mr Geeling said: "I don't know. It's very difficult. You can never say never but there has been no sign of remorse from Hamer. There was no sign in court."

They said that Hamer's mother had not been in touch with them and that they would find it hard to believe anything Hamer would say because he had "lied so many times".