Booker & Anor, R v

Where an offender is recalled for breach of licence and the court cannot make a new determinate sentence consecutive to the recalled term, it may impose a longer sentence within the statutory maximum to ensure that the new offence receives additional punishment. The court must nevertheless assess the seriousness of the new offence and the offender’s record.

Sentences on co-offenders for handling stolen goods must be assessed independently. An exceptional sentence imposed on the principal burglar because of recall does not justify proportionately excessive handling sentences.

The three appellants were sentenced at Grimsby Crown Court on 16 October 2008. Booker pleaded guilty to a daytime dwelling-house burglary involving goods valued at about £1,100 and damage of about £500. He received four years’ imprisonment.

Hunter and Stannard pleaded guilty to handling the stolen goods in lieu of burglary. Each received 30 months’ imprisonment. Booker had been recalled for breach of licence and had 20 months of the recalled term left to serve; the other appellants were not in that position.

All appealed on the ground that the sentences were excessive, particularly because the handling sentences were compared with Booker’s sentence.

1. Booker’s appeal was dismissed. The sentencing judge could not order the burglary sentence to run consecutively to the term Booker had to serve following recall for breach of licence. Parliament’s scheme required the criminality to be reflected in a single sentence imposed after recall.

   The judge was therefore entitled to impose a longer-than-normal sentence, within the maximum available, so that the burglary attracted an additional punishment. A four-year determinate sentence meant release after 24 months, only four months longer than the 20 months Booker already had to serve on recall. Given his serious offending history and the breach of licence, the sentence was not excessive.

2. Hunter’s and Stannard’s appeals were allowed. Their 30-month sentences for handling stolen goods were too long after guilty pleas. Their sentences could not properly be justified by comparison with Booker’s four-year sentence, whose length reflected the distinct recall position.

   The court quashed their sentences and substituted sentences of 18 months’ imprisonment. Time spent on remand was to count towards those sentences.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): In [2009] EWCA Crim 311, Booker’s sentence appeal was dismissed. Hunter’s and Stannard’s appeals were allowed and their sentences were substituted with 18 months’ imprisonment.
• Grimsby Crown Court: On 16 October 2008, Booker was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for burglary. Hunter and Stannard were each sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for handling stolen goods.