The defendant appealed against sentence following conviction for burglary and false imprisonment. He had received sentences of 8 years and life respectively, with a determinate period of 11 years, and an earliest release of 6 years. The sentences had been on the basis that the offence of false imprisonment was an offence of violence. He appealed.
Held: False imprisonment was a crime of violence. That test was passed if behaviour might lead to injury. It did not need to be shown that an injury was probable, only that it was foreseeable. Nevertheless, the determinate part of the sentence was too long and a minimum of 4.5 years was set in this case.
The Vice President: ‘There are, however, circumstances in which more than half may well be appropriate. Dr Thomas identified two examples. In Hayward [2000] 2 Cr.App.R. (S.) 418 a life sentence was imposed on a serving prisoner for an offence committed in prison. In such a case the term specified can appropriately be fixed to end at a date after that on which the defendant would have been eligible for release on licence from his original sentence. This may involve identifying a proportion of the notional determinate term up to two-thirds. Another example is where a life sentence is imposed on a defendant for an offence committed during licensed release from an earlier sentence, who is therefore susceptible to return to custody under section 116 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. In such a case the specified period could properly be increased above one-half, to reflect the fact that a specified period cannot be ordered to run consecutively to any other sentence.’
Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Jackson and Mr Justice Owen
Times 10-Apr-2002, [2002] 2 Cr App R (S) 387, [2002] EWCA Crim 440
Bailii
Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 161(3)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Haywood CACD 2000
The defendant had been sentenced to 8 years for robbery. Two days after being sentenced he attacked a prison officer. He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent. The Recorder of Liverpool sentenced him to life imprisonment, as he was obliged to do . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Stevens (Danny) CACD 1-Dec-2003
The defendant appealed the imposition of a consecutive sentence to follow a mandatory life sentence. He was subject to a suspended sentence when he committed the offences for which he received the life sentence, and had been given a consecutive two . .
Cited – O’Brien, Harris, Moss, Llewellyn and others v Regina CACD 14-Jul-2006
In each case the court was asked whether a sentence imposed under section 225(2) of the 2003 CJA for the protection of the public could be made to run consecutively to the principle sentence for the offence, and how did this link in with the courts . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.169833