Stapley, R. v

When sentencing for conspiracy to murder, the court should assess the offender’s role and responsibility and have regard to guideline minimum terms for murder. Where the jury’s verdict establishes that the conspirator personally carried out the killing, the murder guidelines may provide an important measure of seriousness. The sentence must nevertheless reflect conviction for conspiracy rather than murder. Contract killing, a vulnerable victim, extensive pre-death injuries, planning, concealment and relevant recent serious offending may justify a substantial minimum term. Youth may carry little mitigating weight in an exceptionally grave case.

The appellant was convicted at the Crown Court at Croydon of conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years. He had also pleaded guilty to obstructing a coroner.

The Crown’s case, accepted by the jury, was that the appellant and another man were contract killers engaged by the victim’s husband. The victim was heavily pregnant and was killed in a van after being taken from a railway station. Her body was concealed and the offenders attempted to remove traces of the killing.

The appellant appealed by leave of the single judge. His sole ground was that the 15-year minimum term was excessive. The central issue was the proper sentencing approach to a conspiracy to murder where the killing had been carried out by the conspirator.

1. Appeal dismissed. The appellant was subject to the automatic life-sentence regime under section 109 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. The only issue was whether the 15-year minimum term was excessive.

2. The court held that sentencing for conspiracy to murder requires an assessment of the offender’s role and responsibility, as in other conspiracies. It should also have regard to guideline recommended minimum terms in murder cases. The court departed to a limited extent from the approach in R v Mason and Sellers [2002] 2 Cr.App.R (S) 128. A conspirator should not simply be sentenced as though convicted of murder, but where the jury’s verdict establishes that the conspirator personally carried out the killing, murder guideline terms are highly relevant to the seriousness of the offence.

3. Applying the Practice Statement (Crime: Life Sentences) [2002] 1 WLR 1789, the court identified three features placing the killing at the higher starting point: it was a contract killing, the heavily pregnant victim was vulnerable, and extensive and multiple injuries were inflicted before death. Planning, disposal of the body and the appellant’s conviction for a serious violence offence nine days earlier were aggravating factors. His age was the sole mitigating factor and had limited weight.

4. Had the appellant been convicted of murder, a minimum term of about 19 years would likely have been appropriate. The judge’s 15-year minimum term for conspiracy to murder properly reflected the brutal and chilling killing and was entirely right.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — appeal by leave of the single judge against the minimum term imposed for conspiracy to murder; dismissed.
• Crown Court at Croydon — the appellant was convicted on 5 March 2003 of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a 15-year minimum term. He had pleaded guilty on 14 January 2003 to obstructing a coroner.