A HEARTBROKEN nine-year-old has written to justice secretary Jack Straw in protest over the jailing of her music teacher, who gave his dying father a gun to shoot himself in hospital.

Becky Howitt said Guy Button, sentenced to three years for firearm offences, was “only doing what his father thought was right for himself”.

She said he was a “lovely man” and an “amazing music teacher” and urged Mr Straw to look at the case again.

Button, 30, was jailed last week after he gave the Walther PPK to 63-year-old father Ian at a packed ward at Northampton General Hospital.

Mr Button, who had a terminal lung disease, shot himself in the head.

Becky, of Sunnycroft, Downley, wrote: “It is only the same as committing suicide but his father was in hospital so it was slightly different.”

And she wrote: “I also don’t understand why you’re giving Mr Button three years and Baby P’s mother only five!

“She is a lot more risk to anyone than Mr Button!”

Read Becky’s letter at the bottom of this story. Becky is a flautist in the Downley School orchestra, which Mr Button took as part of his role as a tutor at the High Wycombe Music Centre in Mill End Road.

She told the Bucks Free Press: “I got really upset when I heard the news.

“I don’t see why he had to go to prison, he was only trying to help his dad. It was unfair.”

Mum Helen said she tried to hide a newspaper report of the sentencing as she knew it would upset her daughter.

She said: “I think she is amazing. I am very proud of her. I think it is easy to say things are unfair but not many people would do this.

“She doesn’t like unfairness or injustice.”

Mrs Howitt, 37, who works in pharmaceutical research, said: “I agree with her. I know it is a complicated situation but I don’t see him being a threat to anybody in society.

“People don’t get much more for more serious crimes, for rape and child abuse.”

Dad Nigel, 39, who also works in pharmaceutical research, said: “We are really proud of her.”

Button, of Wycombe Road, Princes Risborough, was jailed at Leicester Crown Court on Friday over the incident, on October 20 last year.

He earlier admitted two charges of possessing an illegal firearm and two charges of passing an illegal firearm onto his father.

He gave his father a Second World War gun, which bore the stamp of a senior German officer, along with 19 rounds of ammunition.

Mr Button drew the curtain around his bed on the six-bay Benham Ward and shot himself through the right temple.

He was discovered, still breathing, by a ward sister but medical staff did not try to resuscitate him as he had asked not to receive CPR should he have a heart attack caused by his illness.

Judge Charles Wide QC said: “You have the burden of the responsibility for what your father did and the circumstances in which he did it.

“It was put that you were in an impossible position, which I do not accept, but it was a very difficult one.”

Mr Button Snr hoped to join 63-year-old old wife Christine in a care home, where she was being treated for Alzheimer's.

Yet he was unable to sell their house, the proceeds of which were going to fund their long-term care.

Becky’s letter:

Dear Jack Straw, I am Becky Howitt (9) and I think the court case about Mr Guy Button is very unfair. I think it is unfair because Mr Button is a lovely man who was only doing what his father thought was right for himself.

It is only the same as comitting suicide but his father was in hospital so it was slightly different.

Mr Button is an amazing music teacher who has really helped me and also many others.

Please listen to me and perhaps you could look at the case again. PLEASE!

I also don't understand why you're giving Mr Button 3 years and Baby P's mother only 5! She is alot more risk to anyone than Mr Button!

Yours sincerely

Becky Howitt (9)