Appeal against conviction dismissed. Appeal against sentence for offences of false imprisonment, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The sentences were life imprisonment for the offence of false imprisonment, with six-and-a-half years’s being specified as the period to be served under section 34 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, 10 years concurrently for indecent assault and 3 years concurrently for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Held: ‘To assess the seriousness of the false imprisonment, it is necessary, in our judgment, and was appropriate for the learned judge, to look at the purpose for which the complainant was imprisoned. The fact that the imprisonment lasted only some 20 minutes or so is one feature. But the fundamental reason for the appellant’s conduct was that he falsely imprisoned the complainant for the specific purpose of forcing nonconsensual sexual activity upon her. That, as it seems to us, renders the false imprisonment, in the present case, a very serious offence.’
Judges:
Rose LJ, Scott Baker J
Citations:
[1998] EWCA Crim 3129, Times 21-Dec-2004
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Hodgson CACD 1967
The court stated that the exceptional circumstances required to justify imposition of a life sentence for an offence other than murder are present if three conditions. First, the offence or offences are in themselves serious enough to require a very . .
Cited – Regina v Pither CACD 1979
A life sentence for an offence other than homicide should not be imposed unless there are exceptional circumstances. . .
Cited – Attorney-General’s Reference No 32 of 1996, Regina v Whittaker CACD 1997
The Court described the circumstances under which a life sentence of imprisonment can be imposed: ‘It appears to this Court that the conditions may be put under two heads. The first is that the offender should have been convicted of a very serious . .
Cited – Regina v Ragusa CACD 1993
The victim was a young woman who was tied up in her home and subjected to a variety of indecent assaults including oral sex and she was threatened with a knife.
Held: The sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment, imposed for false imprisonment, . .
Cited – Regina v O’Dwyer CACD 1988
In order properly to assess the seriousness of an offence, for the purposes of determining whether it qualifies for a sentence of life imprisonment, it is necessary to look not only at what happened but at what might have happened and what was . .
Cited – Regina v Canavan, Kidd, Shaw CACD 10-Jul-1997
A sentencing court cannot take into account factors neither admitted by nor proved against the defendant. The cases sought to be allowed for by the Crown were representative but unadmitted counts. It offended a fundamental principle of sentencing . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Sentencing
Updated: 16 September 2022; Ref: scu.156003