Woolston, R. v

An extended sentence under Criminal Justice Act 2003, section 227, may be imposed for a specified but non-serious offence where there is a significant risk of serious harm from future specified offending. The assessment is prospective and fact-sensitive. The absence of relevant convictions or of serious injury in the index offence does not preclude such a finding, particularly where more serious injury was fortuitously avoided and the evidence shows a pattern of escalating violence and credible threats.

The guidance that repetitive low-level violence without serious harm will rarely establish significant risk concerns the seriousness of the foreseen future offending, not merely the classification of the current offence. An appellate court will ordinarily respect a sentencing judge’s risk assessment where the correct principles and facts were considered.

The appellant pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court to assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his wife, battery against a visitor, and common assault against the visitor’s brother. The offences arose from a prolonged episode of domestic violence. The appellant assaulted his disabled wife with his fists and a piece of skirting board, made threats, and brandished a kitchen knife when others intervened.

On 3 July 2007, the Crown Court imposed an extended sentence of three years for the assault occasioning actual bodily harm. It comprised 12 months’ custody and a two-year extension period under section 227 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Concurrent three-month sentences were imposed for the remaining assaults.

With leave of the single judge, the appellant challenged the dangerousness finding and, alternatively, the length of the extension period. The central issue was whether the evidence established a significant risk of future serious harm.

1. Appeal dismissed. The sentencing judge was entitled to find that the appellant posed a significant risk of serious harm to his wife through future specified offending. The extended sentence was therefore neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive.

2. For section 227 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the question is prospective protection from future harm, not further punishment for past conduct. A significant risk is more than a mere possibility, and serious harm includes death or serious physical or psychological injury. The judge properly considered the statutory factors in section 229, including the circumstances of the offending, the established history of domestic violence, the appellant’s minimisation of his conduct, and the available personal information.

3. The lack of relevant convictions and the limited injuries actually sustained did not prevent a finding of dangerousness. The judge could conclude that more serious injury had been fortuitously avoided. He was entitled to rely on the pattern of violence, the weapons used or threatened, and the threats made during the incident. He was also entitled to assess for himself the reliability of the wife’s retraction and the appellant’s asserted remorse, while giving proper regard to the probation assessment.

4. The court applied and clarified R v Lang [2006] 2 Cr App R(S) 3. Its caution concerning repetitive low-level violence concerns the nature of the future offending which is predicted, rather than the fact that the current specified offence is statutorily non-serious. The judge was entitled to foresee future violence capable of causing serious injury.

5. Under section 227(2)(b), the two-year licence extension was a period the judge could regard as necessary to protect the public, and in particular the appellant’s wife, from serious harm caused by further specified offences.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): dismissed the appellant’s appeal against the extended sentence: [2007] EWCA Crim 3448.
• Sheffield Crown Court: on 3 July 2007 imposed a three-year extended sentence, comprising 12 months’ custody and a two-year extension period, for assault occasioning actual bodily harm; concurrent sentences were imposed for the other assaults.