The defendants appealed sentences of 7.5 and 3 years for conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration. They had hired lorries with a view to bringing people in It was submitted that the sentences were outside the powers under the Act. The sentence had been increased to ten years. The conspiracy extended over the point where the sentence maximum was increased, and the applicable overt act occurred after the change.
Held: Where a conspiracy continues beyond a change in the law it was appropriate to consider the two time spans separately. Under the convention a sentence must not extend beyond one provided for in law. A conspiracy is complete when the agreement is made, and the maximum sentence must be derived at that point. Appeal allowed.
Lord Justice Pill Mrs Justice Hallett Dbe And His Honour Judge Fawcus
[2002] EWCA Crim 387
Bailii
Criminal Law Act 1977 1(1), Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 29, Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (Commencement No 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2000 (SI 2000 No 168), European Convention on Human Rights 7(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Cairns CACD 28-Oct-1997
The defendant appealed sentences of 7 years for indecent assaults on young girls. He was a policeman running a youth club. Certain of the allegations related to times when the maximum sentence was two years, but the defendant’s pleas specifically . .
Cited – Mulcahy v Regina HL 1868
When two or more agree to carry a criminal scheme into effect, the very plot is the criminal act itself, the conspiracy. . .
Cited – SW v The United Kingdom; CR v United Kingdom ECHR 22-Nov-1995
Criminal Law Change not retrospective
The law that marital rape was an offence, was not to be treated as retrospective despite being a common law change. The Court rejected complaints by two applicants who had been found guilty of raping their wives which was an undoubted extension of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing, Human Rights
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.167997