ABU DHABI // The three sisters who were brutally attacked with a hammer in their London hotel room have arrived home on a private medical plane.
State news agency Wam reported that Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, and sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, from Sharjah, landed in the UAE last night on a flight that was commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
The sisters were being treated in the UK for life-threatening injuries they sustained in the attack at the Cumberland Hotel in London on April 6 last year.
Philip Spence, 33, entered their suite and viciously bludgeoned his victims in front of Khuloud’s terrified children.
Ohoud was left with just 5 per cent of brain function.
After a trial at Southwark Crown Court in November, Spence was found guilty on three charges of attempted murder, among other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The judge ordered that he serve a minimum term of 18 years before he was eligible for parole.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in London ruled the original sentence had been unduly lenient.
It added nine years to the minimum term.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
