Attorney General's Reference Nos. 58 to 66 of 2002

Sentences for a drugs-and-firearms gang must reflect the grave additional risk created by loaded weapons carried and used to protect and enforce the criminal enterprise. In most such cases, consecutive terms may be needed to mark that additional gravity, although the aggregate sentence must remain proportionate. Sentencing requires an individual assessment of age, previous offending, role, actual possession or use of firearms, and peer pressure. A junior gang member who merely knew that weapons were available may properly receive a lower sentence; leniency alone does not make a sentence unduly lenient. Where an Attorney General’s reference requires resentencing, an adjustment is required because the offender is being sentenced for a second time.

Nine members of the Pit Bull Crew were convicted or pleaded guilty in the Crown Court to conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to supply class A and class B controlled drugs. The gang operated a sustained drugs business in Manchester and used firearms to protect its trade and territory.

Under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Attorney General referred the sentences as unduly lenient. The court divided the offenders between senior and junior gang members. The central issue was whether the original sentences properly reflected the individual offender’s role and the aggravation arising from the firearms conspiracy.

1. The court granted leave for the Attorney General’s references. It held that the original concurrent sentences imposed on the four senior members—Gordon, Thorne, Boakye and Simons—were unduly lenient. Their roles in the organised supply of class A drugs and their participation in, or close involvement with, the gang’s firearms activity required substantially greater sentences.

2. The court accepted that a contested offence of simple possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life ordinarily attracted seven to eight years’ custody, as illustrated by Attorney General's Reference No 49 of 1998 (R v Chevelleau) [1999] 1 Cr App R(S) 178 and Attorney General's Reference No 2 of 2000 (R v Hinds) [2001] 1 Cr App R(S) 27. The conspiracy to supply drugs, considered alone, warranted a sentence of up to ten years in a contested case. The use of guns materially aggravated the overall criminality.

3. In most cases where firearms are carried and used, a consecutive sentence is desirable to mark their additional gravity. The court must nevertheless adjust the component terms so that the total sentence is not excessive. Youth, prior offending, peer pressure, duration of involvement and the individual role remained relevant to sentence.

4. The court substituted consecutive sentences totalling 12 years’ detention for Gordon, 12 years’ imprisonment for Thorne, 10 years’ imprisonment for Boakye, and 12 years’ imprisonment for Simons. Each reduction from the sentence otherwise appropriate reflected that the court was sentencing the offender for a second time.

5. The remaining offenders—Day, Coudjoe, McGlacken, O’Too and Proverbs—were junior members. They were substantially less involved with firearms and generally knew only that senior members possessed and used them. Their sentences were lenient but not unduly lenient, so those sentences stood.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): Under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the court allowed the Attorney General’s references for four senior offenders and substituted higher consecutive sentences: [2003] EWCA Crim 636.
• Crown Court: The nine offenders were convicted or pleaded guilty to the two conspiracies and received sentences which were concurrent in each case. No lower-court citation is stated.