Tran, Re

On a review of a life prisoner’s minimum term under Schedule 22 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the court must calculate both the term likely to have been notified under the former practice and the term resulting from the statutory approach under the Act. The minimum term cannot exceed the lower of those two figures.

In assessing seriousness under Schedule 21, the court must balance aggravating and mitigating features. A vicious joint attack causing multiple potentially fatal stab wounds was balanced by the absence of premeditation and the offender’s youth. The former practice produced the lower figure, which therefore governed.

The claimant had been convicted at the Central Criminal Court of murder and wounding with intent. The murder was committed during a group attack on a defenceless man. A life sentence was imposed, and the trial judge identified 15 years as the period required for retribution and general deterrence. The Lord Chief Justice and the Secretary of State subsequently identified a 14-year term.

The claimant applied for review under Schedule 22 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The issue was the minimum term applicable under the statutory review scheme, having regard to both the former notification practice and the approach required by the 2003 Act.

1. The application was determined on the written submissions. An oral hearing was unnecessary.

2. Under Schedule 22 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the court had to consider the seriousness of the offence under Schedule 21 and determine the period likely to have been notified under the practice followed by the Secretary of State before December 2002. The court could not fix a term greater than that former-practice figure. It therefore had to impose the lower of the former-practice figure and the figure reached under the 2003 Act.

3. The former practice treated 14 years as the period actually to be served for an average, normal and unexceptional murder. This offence fell within that bracket. The relevant mitigating features were the absence of premeditation and the offender’s age of 22. The aggravating features were the viciousness of the attack, the multiple potentially fatal stab wounds and the joint attack on a defenceless victim. Those features balanced each other, producing a former-practice figure of 14 years.

4. Applying the approach under the 2003 Act, the starting point was 15 years. The same aggravating and mitigating features balanced each other, so the resulting figure was also 15 years.

5. The lower figure was therefore controlling. The minimum term was fixed at 14 years from 4 May 1999, less 12 months and 11 days spent on remand. The period remaining before parole consideration was 12 years and 354 days from that date.