Povey & Ors, R. v

Possession of a knife or offensive weapon without reasonable excuse is a serious offence even where the weapon is concealed, is not intended for use, and causes no immediate fear. Sentencing must give particular weight to deterrence, reduction of crime and protection of the public. The court may assess seriousness by reference to foreseeable harm if the weapon were produced and used.

Existing guideline sentencing guidance should be applied in light of the grave contemporary prevalence of knife crime. A weapon taken to an anticipated confrontation is not mitigated by an assertion of self-protection. Where the same conduct founds more than one offence, consecutive terms may be appropriate, but the total sentence must remain proportionate.

Four otherwise unconnected appeals, or renewed applications for leave to appeal, concerned Crown Court sentences for possession of knives or offensive weapons without reasonable excuse.

• Povey received concurrent 16-month terms after he was found in a street at night carrying two knives.
• McGeary received four months' imprisonment after taking a kitchen knife to a planned late-night confrontation involving several armed men.
• Pownall received a total of three years and nine months' imprisonment, including a consecutive nine-month term for possessing a bladed article.
• Bleazard received six years' imprisonment after carrying a felling axe at a royal visit, in breach of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, and later carrying a Stanley knife while on bail.

The central issues were the proper sentencing approach to weapon possession and whether the individual and aggregate terms were excessive.

1. The court refused Povey's application, refused McGeary's application, refused Pownall's renewed application, and allowed Bleazard's appeal to a limited extent.

2. Possession of a knife or offensive weapon without reasonable excuse creates a threat to public safety and public order. Sentencing courts should focus on crime reduction by deterrence and protection of the public. They should consider foreseeable harm from a weapon even if it was concealed, was not used, and was not intended to be used. The court applied the guideline guidance in Poulton and Celaire [2003] 1 Cr App R(S) in the more serious contemporary context of knife crime. It also recommended that relevant magistrates' sentencing guidance should normally be applied at the severe end of the appropriate range.

3. Povey's 16-month concurrent sentences were neither wrong in principle nor excessive. His unstable temperament, serious record, and possession of two knives in a street late at night justified the sentence.

4. McGeary's possession was materially more serious than mere possession. He had armed himself for a confrontation in which others were also armed. A claim of self-protection could not mitigate that conduct, and the absence of threatened violence resulted only from police intervention. The four-month sentence was, if anything, fortunate.

5. Pownall's consecutive nine-month term for the bladed article, and his total sentence, did not offend the totality principle. The overall sentence was within the acceptable range for his separate offending, including offences committed on bail.

6. Bleazard's sentences for possession of bladed articles were appropriate. However, the felling axe constituted both the weapon-possession offence and the breach of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order. The resulting total of six years was excessive. The term for breach of the order was reduced from 18 months to six months, consecutive to the other terms, reducing the total sentence to five years.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)— refused Povey's application, refused McGeary's application, refused Pownall's renewed application, and reduced Bleazard's total sentence from six years to five years.
• Crown Court at Bradford— Bleazard was convicted after trial and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
• Crown Court at Birmingham— Pownall pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a total of three years and nine months' imprisonment; a single judge had refused leave to appeal.
• Crown Court at Newcastle— McGeary pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four months' imprisonment.
• Crown Court at Winchester— Povey pleaded guilty and received concurrent 16-month terms of imprisonment.