Mayhew, R v

In sentencing for attempted murder, the framework in R v Ford [2006] 1 Cr App R(S) 204 requires attention to the seriousness category that a completed murder would have occupied under Criminal Justice Act 2003, Schedule 21. Outside the two most serious categories, no general increase in attempted-murder sentences is required. The appellate court must nevertheless assess all aggravating and mitigating features. Severe repeated stabbing, committed before a child who intervened at personal risk, may justify a substantial determinate sentence despite remorse, good character, a guilty plea and mental ill health falling short of a defence.

The appellant pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to attempted murder of his former wife. He had stabbed her twice with a large knife after their relationship had ended. Their 11-year-old daughter witnessed the attack, intervened, and prevented him from obtaining a second knife.

The Recorder sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment, giving full credit for the guilty plea and taking account of remorse, good character and psychiatric evidence. The appellant appealed, with leave of the single judge, on the ground that the sentence was manifestly excessive. The central issue was whether the mitigation outweighed the seriousness of the violence and its aggravating circumstances.

Decision

1. The court dismissed the appeal. The sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder was not manifestly excessive.

2. Applying R v Ford [2006] 1 Cr App R(S) 204, the court considered the sentence that a completed murder would have attracted under Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003. This offence would not have fallen within the more serious categories. The appropriate notional murder starting point was therefore 15 years’ custody, equivalent to a determinate sentence of 30 years. The general post-Act increase identified in Ford did not apply.

3. The court nevertheless regarded the offending as exceptionally serious. The appellant used a knife bought earlier that day and inflicted two forceful wounds, one entering the abdominal cavity and the other penetrating the chest. The presence of the couple’s 11-year-old daughter was a seriously aggravating feature. She witnessed the violence and intervened at considerable risk, thereby preventing a further knife attack.

4. The court gave proper weight to the appellant’s immediate remorse, previous good character, guilty plea, depression and the absence of long-term physical complications. The psychiatric evidence did not affect his capacity to form intent. The comparable sentencing decisions in R v Palmer [2005] 1 Cr App R(S) 604 and R v Ipek [2006] 1 Cr App R(S) 740 remained helpful but did not render this sentence excessive, given the gravity of the injuries and circumstances.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Dismissed the appellant’s sentence appeal and upheld the 12-year determinate sentence.

• Crown Court at Teesside The appellant pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced by the Recorder of Middlesbrough to 12 years’ imprisonment.