After next month, both of those found responsible for his death will be free, having served just five and six years in jail.

One of them, Ricky Doubleday, was found guilty of defensive homicide, an offence expected to soon be abolished by the Victorian Parliament.

The state’s Attorney-General Robert Clark has introduced legislation to the Parliament to abolish the offence, saying while it had been introduced to help the victims of family violence, it had instead helped violent criminals get away with murder.

Mr Winter’s widow Kim says the push to remove defensive homicide would stop those “using the system” to escape appropriate sentencing for charges that should be prosecuted as murder.

While she says the change to the laws is “cold comfort” for those in her position who continued to suffer, it would protect others in the future.

Mr Clark says those found to have acted in genuine and reasonable self-defence would be acquitted under the new legislation, but if that was found not to be the case, they would be convicted of murder.