The defendant was convicted of sexual assaults against his step daughter over a period of 7 years. The offences had occurred some 30 years before.
Held: This appeal raises a worrying point of general interest, difficulty and sensitivity in relation to complaints arising out of sexual offences alleged to have been committed many years prior to the trial.
Where a defendant has been convicted following a trial he cannot be sentenced for conduct which has not formed, expressly or by necessary implication, the subject of charges laid and proved against him. The only exception to this would be where a defendant has explicitly assented to counts on the indictment being treated as representative of a longer course of conduct.
Judges:
The Lord Woolf of Barnes LCJ, Jackson, Elias JJ
Citations:
[2003] 2 Cr App R 13, [2003] EWCA Crim 319, [2003] 1 Cr App R (S) 26
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Clifford, Regina v CACD 7-Nov-2014
The defendant appealed against his sentence to eight years imprisonment on 8 counts of indecent assault. The offences occurred between 1977 and 1984.
Held: Each of the victims was young and vulnerable and the assaults had had continuing . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 17 September 2022; Ref: scu.375944