Daniel Agard resentenced for brutal Cropper family killings

CONVICTED killer Daniel Agard has been resentenced by a High Court judge.

Justice Gillian Scotland gave Agard a 28-year final sentence on July 30.

The 22 years and eight months he spent in prison for the brutal murders of the members of the Cropper family in 2001 were deducted from his sentence, leaving him with five years and four months.

However, this will be further reduced once the prison authorities calculate his remission, resulting in his being freed sooner.

Agard also received discounts for the breach of his constitutional rights, his prolonged detention on death row, the prison's failure to hold four-year sentence reviews, and his meagre participation in prison programmes.

Agard, 39, was twice convicted for the Cropper murders. He first went to trial in 2004 when he and another man, Lester Pitman, were convicted and sentenced to hang for the murders of Maggie Lee, Lynette Lithgow-Pearson and John Cropper on December 11, 2001.

Agard was the great-nephew of John and the late independent senator Angela Cropper. Lee was his great-grandmother and Pearson his great-aunt. Cropper, who was British, his mother-in-law Maggie Lee and his sister-in-law Lithgow-Pearson were killed at Cropper's home in Mt Anne Drive, Second Avenue, Cascade, between December 11 and 12, 2001.

Their bodies were found on December 13. They had been bound and gagged with electrical wire and their throats slit.

Lithgow-Pearson was a former television broadcaster with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Cropper’s wife Angela, who was not at home at the time of the murders, died in London in November 2016. She was a former independent senator.

Agard successfully appealed his convictions and a retrial was ordered. He was again convicted and three death sentences were again imposed on him on September 13, 2013. He appealed these and lost in July 2019.

He did not appeal further to the Privy Council.

His co-accused, Pitman, successfully challenged his case at appeal and his death sentence was commuted. He was eventually ordered not to be released before he has served a minimum of 40 years in prison.

In 2023, Agard was removed from death row after he filed a constitutional motion. He had been there since September 2013 – a period of nine years, five months and 17 days.

Justice Joan Charles ordered that any attempt to carry out the death sentence would be unconstitutional. She vacated the death sentence and ordered him resentenced by a judge in the Criminal Assizes. Scotland did so on July 30.

She said according to the prison reports and probation officers’ department, Agard expressed regret for the lives lost and those he hurt. He said he was sorry for the part he played in the Cropper family murders and wished he could undo them.

He also promised not to break the law if released. He also said he did not support criminal behaviour and this was his last.

Scotland said during his incarceration, Agard had made little effort to repair the relationship with his family and blamed himself for the strain between himself and his mother.

He did not receive visits from her, as she said he was abusive, and he had one friend who visited him regularly. Neither his sister nor his mother could accommodate him, because of his aggressive nature, and only his elder brother was willing to help him find work and house him rent-free for three months in an apartment complex he manages.

However, Scotland said the brother’s promises were dependant on factors beyond his control.

She also said there was no information on their relationship, nor was there any guarantee Agard could be accommodated by the Vision on Mission programme.

“To reduce the risk of reoffending, he must have family support and be capable of gaining employment.”

Of concern to her was that Agard had no skill, nor did he participate in any of the training programmes available in prison. She noted his numerous prison infractions.

“There are isues of rehabilitation that need to be addressed before he is released,” she said, adding that he should remain in a structured environment and seek the assistance of the prison psychologists to start the journey of healing.

On July 18, the High Court ordered Agard to receive $45,000 from the State as compensation for a cut on his face he received from another inmate while in the prison. Justice Ricky Rahim said prison officers had breached their duty of care.

Agard was one of scores of prisoners who benefited from a 2012 ruling for an alleged beating they received during a prison riot in 2006.

However, in 2023, the Court of Appeal overturned their wins and said their cases should not have been treated as a test case agreement. They were expected to challenge the ruling in the Privy Council.

Agard was represented by attorneys Gerald Ramdeen, Wayne Sturge and Dayadai Harripaul.