Hills, R. v

Section 154 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 permits the Crown Court to direct that a sentence begins on a date other than the date of sentence. Where an offender is still serving the minimum term of an indeterminate sentence, the court may therefore structure a further determinate sentence to begin after that minimum term. This may be necessary to give proper consecutive effect to serious further offending and to extend the period before parole can be considered. Clear minimum-term dates under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 remove the practical difficulty said to arise under older contrary authorities. For earlier offending sentenced during an unexpired minimum term, the remaining minimum term may be combined with the appropriate minimum term for the new offences.

Three applications for leave to appeal against sentence were heard together because each concerned an offender serving an indeterminate sentence.

• Hills committed serious assaults on a prison officer while serving the minimum term of an indeterminate sentence. The sentencing judge imposed a three-year sentence to begin after that minimum term.
• Davies was sentenced for historic sexual offences while serving an imprisonment for public protection sentence. The judge imposed life sentences with a nine-year minimum term, calculated by adding the remaining four years of the existing minimum term to a five-year minimum term for the new offences.
• Pomfret, who had completed the minimum term of a life sentence but remained in custody, wounded a prison officer. He received imprisonment for public protection with a six-year minimum term.

The central issue was how sentences should be structured where an existing indeterminate-sentence prisoner is sentenced for further offences, and whether the individual sentences were excessive.

1. The appeals were dismissed save for corrections to the sentences. The court granted leave to appeal in each case, and granted any necessary extension of time.
2. In Hills's case, section 154 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 authorised the Crown Court to direct that a sentence take effect on a date other than the date on which it was imposed. The court could therefore direct that a further determinate sentence began when the offender's existing minimum term ended. That course was lawful where a concurrent indeterminate sentence could not adequately reflect serious prison offending and justice required an effective consecutive sentence.
3. The structure was practicable because the sentencing regime under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 identifies the end of a minimum term with precision. The court regarded older authorities suggesting a contrary result as no longer relevant. Hills's deliberate and planned violence justified three years. The sentence was corrected from imprisonment to detention in a young offender institution, but the appeal was otherwise dismissed.
4. For Davies, the court held that the judge was entitled to follow the guidance in R v O'Brien [2006] EWCA Crim 1741. The nine-year minimum term properly reflected the balance of the existing minimum term and the minimum term appropriate for the newly sentenced offences. Although severe, it was not manifestly excessive. The sentences on counts 9, 10 and 11 exceeded the available maximum and were reduced to 18 months' imprisonment concurrent; that correction did not affect the overall outcome.
5. For Pomfret, the grave and planned prison assault, together with his history of violence against prison officers, justified a substantial sentence. The notional 12-year sentence and resulting six-year minimum term were severe but not manifestly excessive. His appeal was dismissed.

Three sentence appeals were heard together.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — Leave to appeal was granted. Hills's appeal was dismissed subject to correcting the custodial label to detention in a young offender institution. Davies's appeal was dismissed save that the sentences on counts 9, 10 and 11 were reduced to 18 months' imprisonment concurrent. Pomfret's appeal was dismissed.
• Crown Court — Hills was sentenced at Teesside to three years for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assaults by beating, directed to begin after his existing minimum term. Davies was sentenced at Cardiff for historic sexual offences, including life sentences with a nine-year minimum term. Pomfret was sentenced at Birmingham to imprisonment for public protection with a six-year minimum term for wounding with intent.