Corcoran, R v

A confiscation court must respect an agreed basis of plea. It must not make findings or adopt a benefit figure that contradicts a matter which the parties intended to govern confiscation proceedings. An express reservation excluding one part of a basis of plea from confiscation may show that the remaining agreed matters apply to that enquiry.

When valuing realisable property for confiscation, the costs of sale must be deducted. The appropriate percentage is a factual valuation judgment on the available material.

The appellant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce a class A controlled drug and received a four-year sentence. The Crown Court at Ipswich later made a confiscation order for £79,057.11.

He appealed, with leave of the single judge, on two grounds. First, the court had not deducted sale costs from the equity in a property treated as a realisable asset. Secondly, it had calculated his benefit from drug production at £722,000 rather than the lowest estimate of £624,000 referred to in his agreed basis of plea.

The central issue was whether the basis of plea also governed the confiscation enquiry.

1. Appeal allowed. The confiscation order was wrong on both issues advanced by the appellant.

2. The court accepted that sale costs had to be deducted from the value of the realisable property. Following Hedges [2004] EWCA Crim 2133, this was a necessary deduction from the available equity. On the material before it, the court fixed the appropriate deduction at 3 per cent, rather than the 5 per cent claimed by the appellant.

3. A court conducting confiscation proceedings must respect the defendant’s basis of plea and must not make findings or assumptions inconsistent with it. The court applied the principle stated in R v Green [2007] EWCA Crim 1248.

4. The basis of plea expressly excluded only paragraph 7 from agreement for confiscation purposes. That express and limited reservation showed that the parties intended the other agreed matters to form the basis for the confiscation application. The statement that the prosecution would sentence on the lowest estimate consequently governed the appellant’s benefit for confiscation. His benefit was therefore to be treated as £624,000, not £722,000.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): allowed the appeal against the confiscation order: [2008] EWCA Crim 1600.
• Crown Court at Ipswich: on 11 May 2007, made a confiscation order requiring payment of £79,057.11 within six months.