Sentencing Guidelines - Offences

273 judgments

01 June 2004

R v William George Long [2004] NILST 6

Murder - 41 year old female victim (girlfriend) - domestic argument - hit repeatedly over the head with a blunt object (edge of hatchet) - claimed he and the victim had been drinking - could not remember hitting her - at trial claimed he suffered from mental impairment - does not fit comfortably into normal or higher starting point category - lengthy criminal record for violent offences - tariff fixed 14 years.

[2004] NICC 10
Kerr LCJ
24 May 2004

R v Stephen Henry McParland

Murder - 33 year old male victim - assaulted after disagreement over £20 debt - denied being present - forensic evidence placed him at scene - higher starting point - culpability exceptionally high - prolonged, merciless assault - intention to kill - strong deterrent element - drinking, not drunk - 3rd person present had attempted to restrain - lengthy criminal record, conviction for violence - contested charge - no evidence of genuine remorse - made progress while in prison - tariff fixed at 16 years.

[2004] NILST 4
Kerr LCJ
24 May 2004

R v Ignatius Patrick Gribben

Murder - male victim (previously had affair with prisoner's wife) - shot dead - claimed shooting was an accident - normal starting point - jury rejected suggestion firearm was discharged other than deliberately - some provocation - lured victim to remote house - knew he could obtain access to firearm - some attack was intended - tariff fixed at 13 years.

[2004] NILST 5
Kerr LCJ
24 May 2004

R v Karen Elizabeth Carson [2004] NILST 3

Murder - husband victim - single stab wound to chest - intoxicated - initially alleged third party attack - then claimed self-defence - evidence prisoner had a violent temper - previously offered money to friend to murder her husband - normal starting point - a dispute between two people known to each other - still maintains that it was drunken accident - killing was a deliberate act - no pre-meditation - little evidence of genuine remorse - contested her guilt over two trials - tariff fixed at 12 years.

[2004] NICC 5
Kerr LCJ
24 May 2004

R v Darren Larmour [2004] NILST 2

Murders - two paramilitary gun murders - convicted on his own confession - higher starting point - planned and pre-meditated - illegal firearms - armed in advance - undoubted intention to kill - medical condition - full admission of guilt - youth of offender (21) - tariff fixed at 15 years.

[2004] NICC 4
Kerr LCJ
19 May 2004

R v Victor Kerr

Murder - ex-girlfriend in England - she went to his flat - strangulation - took an overdose - eventually asked neighbours to call ambulance - trial judge imposed tariff of 12 years - reduced by Home Secretary to 10 - normal starting point - attempts to clear the crime scene; attempt at deception by preparation of suicide notes - suggestion of prior domestic violence, but no clear evidence - tariff fixed at 11 years.

[2004] NILST 13
Kerr LCJ
30 April 2004

R v Daniel John O'Connell Attorney General's Reference No 2 of 2004 (AG Ref 1 of 2004)

Rape, attempted rape and indecent assault

[2004] NICA 15
Kerr LCJ
12 March 2004

R v William Desmond Gallagher

Conditions justifying the imposition of discretionary life sentences.

[2004] NICA 11
Kerr LCJ
20 February 2004

R v Zoe Lynne Pearson Attorney General's Reference Number 1 of 2004 (AG Ref 17 of 2003)

AG referral of sentence as unduly lenient - armed robbery of rural post office - section 8 (1) Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 – considerable violence used - taking a motor vehicle without consent Art. 172 Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981- offender heavily pregnant when sentenced – no PSR obtained despite offender’s request - sentence unduly lenient - 27 month sentence substituted for custody probation order (2 years’ custody & 18 months’ probation).

[2004] NICA 6
Kerr LCJ
09 January 2004

R v Trevor McCandless, Stephen Anthony Johnston, Paul James Johnston, Samuel Anderson, Kenneth John Scott

Adoption of Practice Statement of Lord Woolf CJ.

[2004] NICA 1
Carswell LCJ
05 December 2003

R v Andre Shoukri

Firearms (NI) Order 1981 - possession of firearms and ammunition in suspicious circumstances - burden of proving lawful object - sentence.

[2003] NICA 53
Kerr J
05 December 2003

R v Robert Black

Appeal against sentence of six years imprisonment - attempted burglary - habitual criminality - credit for guilty plea - whether sentence manifestly excessive - appeal allowed - sentence reduced.

[2003] NICA 51
Carswell LCJ
14 November 2003

R v Terence Joseph Ritchie

AOABH - s.47 of Offences Against the Person Act 1861 - prosecution proposed summary trial - effect on sentence.

[2003] NICA 45
Higgins J
31 October 2003

R v John Anthony Deery Attorney General's Reference (No 16 of 2003)

Indecent assault - several child victims over many years - concurrent/consecutive sentences

[2003] NICA 44
Weir J
31 October 2003

Reference by Her Majesty’s Attorney General for Northern Ireland (no 9 of 2003)

Unduly lenient sentence - rape and indecent assault - totality

[2003] NICA 41
Carswell LCJ
29 September 2003

Richard Herbert Crowe - Attorney General's Reference (No 5 of 2003)

Reference by AG of sentence as unduly lenient – 3 years’ probation concurrent with earlier equivalent sentence for similar offending – possession/possession with intent to supply Class A & B drugs – unusual circumstances for ‘supply’ – offender responding well to addiction treatment on probation - sentence lenient but not unduly so.

[2003] NICA 38
Carswell LCJ
16 September 2003

R v Ryan Thomas John Flynn AG Ref (No.3 of 2003)

Robbery - Amateurish robbery of small business - need for deterrence - substitution of immediate custodial sentence for a non-custodial one.

[2003] NICA 32
Carswell LCJ
11 July 2003

AG for NI (no 2 of 2003) (Gavin James Robinson) AG for NI (no 6 of 2003) (Graeme Humphreys) AG for NI (no 7 of 2003) (Colm Peter McGuone) AG for NI (no 8 of 2003) (Dean Noel James)

Sentence imposed by the court was unduly lenient - causing death by dangerous driving - causing grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving - causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink.

[2003] NICA 28
Carswell LCJ
20 June 2003

R v Peter Murray & Christopher Armstrong

Aggravated Burglary - arising from inter-personal dispute - lesser penalty appropriate where break in not for gain and high unlikelihood of re-offending.

[2003] NICA 24
Carswell LCJ
06 June 2003

R v Patrick Joseph Murdock

Disparity

[2003] NICA 21
Carswell LCJ