Wilkinson & Ors, R v

For serious firearms offending, public protection is paramount, although all statutory purposes of sentencing remain relevant. The guidance in R v Avis and others remains valuable, but requires amplification for large-scale manufacture, importation and distribution of lethal weapons.

Under Criminal Justice Act 2003 section 225, discretionary life imprisonment is reserved for offences of the utmost gravity. It is justified where its denunciatory value reflects public abhorrence and the notional determinate sentence would be very long. IPP may protect the public in other dangerous-offender cases. If section 225(1) and (2) require life imprisonment, an IPP is unduly lenient and must be replaced.

The court heard three conjoined groups of sentence appeals concerning serious firearms offending, and an Attorney General’s reference concerning a violent sexual offender.

Wilkinson had operated a large-scale factory converting replica weapons into lethal firearms. Ali, Akhtar, Salim and Wilson participated in the importation and distribution of modified pistols and ammunition. Olawaiye, Farah and Ahmed were involved in a proposed transaction for two loaded firearms. The appeals raised the proper sentencing approach to major gun crime and the relationship between discretionary life imprisonment and imprisonment for public protection under section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

In Bennett, a dangerous repeat sexual offender had received an IPP for kidnapping and violent sexual offences against a 12-year-old boy. The common issue was when the statutory seriousness threshold required imprisonment for life rather than IPP.

1. The court dismissed Wilkinson’s appeal and the appeals of Ali, Akhtar, Salim, Wilson, Olawaiye and Ahmed. It allowed Farah’s appeal only to substitute 14 years’ imprisonment for 18 years. It allowed the Attorney General’s reference in Bennett, quashed the IPP and imposed imprisonment for life.

2. The sentencing questions in R v Avis and others, [1998] 2 CAR (S) 128, remained of undiminished value. They require attention to the weapon, its use, the offender’s intention, and the offender’s record. They did not, however, address large-scale manufacture, importation and distribution of firearms. In that class of case, the supply of weapons intended for homicidal use, and their actual subsequent use, are grave features. An importer or supplier cannot avoid responsibility merely because another person pulled the trigger.

3. Under section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a dangerous offender who satisfies section 225(1) and whose offence, alone or with associated offences, has the seriousness required by section 225(2), must receive imprisonment for life. IPP serves the same public-protection function but is discretionary and has additional statutory restrictions. Life imprisonment should remain reserved for offences of the utmost gravity, where the notional determinate term would be very long and the sentence has a denunciatory value.

4. Wilkinson’s manufacture and distribution of converted machine guns, which caused deaths and injuries, fully justified life imprisonment. The sentences imposed on the gun-importation conspiracy were within the proper range. In the Hackney firearms transaction, Olawaiye’s pointing of a loaded weapon at an officer was an aggravated manifestation of his proved intent and was properly considered in sentencing. That aggravating feature did not apply to Farah, whose sentence was reduced.

5. In Bennett, the extreme gravity of the sexual offences, viewed with the associated prior offences and the need for public protection, required life imprisonment. Where life imprisonment is plainly required by section 225(2), an IPP is unduly lenient for the purposes of section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, notwithstanding the practical similarities between the two indeterminate sentences.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): In [2009] EWCA Crim 1925, dismissed the firearms appeals save that Farah’s sentence was reduced from 18 to 14 years; allowed the Attorney General’s reference and substituted life imprisonment for Bennett’s IPP.
• Crown Court at Preston: On 2 April 2009, imposed an IPP with a 10-year minimum term on Bennett following conviction for kidnapping, rape and threats to kill.
• Crown Court at Manchester: On 1 August 2008, sentenced Ali, Akhtar, Salim and Wilson for a conspiracy involving the possession and distribution of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
• Crown Court at Kingston upon Thames: On 26 November 2007, sentenced Olawaiye, Farah and Ahmed for firearms offences arising from an arms transaction.
• Crown Court at Reading: On 28 August 2002, imposed life imprisonment with an 11-year minimum term on Wilkinson for firearms offences.