Jones & Ors v R

For a planned, violent, night-time robbery of a vulnerable householder by a group using weapons and intending to obtain firearms, the post-trial sentence must reflect the combined gravity of those features. A starting point of eight years after trial was inadequate on the facts. The appropriate post-trial range was ten to 11 years, followed by proper reductions for the offenders’ age and guilty pleas.

Following guilty pleas to robbery, Daniel Jones, Christopher Weaver and Matthew Wood were sentenced at the Crown Court sitting at Shrewsbury. The robbery involved entry at night into the home of an elderly man living alone. The offenders demanded guns and money, assaulted and restrained him, and stole money and his vehicle.

The Attorney General made references under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, challenging the robbery sentences. The central issue was whether the judge’s post-trial starting point of eight years adequately reflected the gravity, planning, violence and intended acquisition of firearms.

1. The Attorney General’s references were allowed. The court granted leave under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and quashed the robbery sentences.

2. The sentencing judge was entitled to characterise the offences as committed by offenders acting together, with weapons, against a known victim whose resistance was unlikely to be strong. The judge was also right to treat the intention to steal guns as an important feature of the factual background.

3. However, the judge erred by selecting eight years as the sentence after trial. The authorities reviewed by the court showed that, given the serious violence, premeditation, vulnerability of the victim and purpose of obtaining firearms, the appropriate post-trial sentence was in the region of ten to 11 years. A reduction should then be made for age and for guilty pleas at the percentages the judge had correctly identified.

4. The court substituted nine years’ detention in a young offender institution for Wood, eight years’ detention in a young offender institution for Weaver, and eight years and six months’ imprisonment for Jones. All other dispositions and consequential orders remained unchanged.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). In [2012] EWCA Crim 2356, the court granted the Attorney General leave under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, quashed the robbery sentences and substituted higher terms.
• Crown Court sitting at Shrewsbury. On 31 July 2012, the offenders were sentenced following guilty pleas to robbery and, for Wood and Weaver, further offences.