Attorney Generals Reference Nos 4, 5, 6, 7 And 8 of 2014

For offences involving possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, especially in a gangland setting, public protection, deterrence and punishment require stern sentences. Sentencing must take account of the weapon, its actual and intended use, and the offender’s antecedents and role.

Although the five-year minimum in section 51A does not strictly apply to a conspiracy charge, it remains a relevant benchmark. It is a minimum rather than a starting point. Gang pressure falling short of legal duress, youth and favourable personal mitigation do not ordinarily justify a sentence below that minimum where adult gang members knowingly act as couriers for a firearm intended for lethal gang use.

The Attorney General referred as unduly lenient the sentences imposed on five defendants convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court of conspiracy to possess a firearm, and in three cases ammunition, with intent to endanger life or enable another to do so.

The Deacon brothers, senior members of a South London gang, obtained a working revolver and live ammunition from Kumar in Bedford. Wilson and Dawson, junior gang members, carried the items back to London by train. The trial judge imposed total sentences of 10 years for each Deacon brother, eight years for Kumar, and four years for each of Wilson and Dawson.

The central issue was whether those sentences properly reflected the planned acquisition and transport of a lethal firearm for gang use, and the defendants’ differing roles and mitigation.

1. The Attorney General’s references were allowed. The sentences were unduly lenient and were replaced by 15 years’ imprisonment for each Deacon brother on the firearm count, with concurrent four-year sentences on the ammunition counts; 11 years for Kumar, with a concurrent three-year sentence on the ammunition count; and seven years for each of Wilson and Dawson.

2. Sentencing for possession of a firearm with the relevant intent required particular severity. Applying the considerations identified in R v Avis [1998] 2 Cr App R(S) 420, the court considered the working revolver, the available live ammunition, the intended lethal gang use, and the defendants’ histories. The planned procurement and transport of the weapon, the use of junior gang members as couriers, and the gangland purpose were substantial aggravating features.

3. The court endorsed the approach in Attorney-General’s Reference No 43 (Bennett and Wilkinson) [2010] 1 Cr App R(S) 100: where a gun is made available for use, public protection is paramount and deterrent and punitive sentences are required. In this case the firearm was intended to enforce the gang’s position in drug-related or other gang disputes.

4. Section 51A of the Firearms Act 1968 did not strictly apply because the offences were charged as conspiracies. Its five-year term was nevertheless relevant. It was a minimum, not a starting point. The court held that the trial judge had been wrong to impose sentences below it on Wilson and Dawson, since their personal mitigation and gang pressures did not amount to exceptional circumstances.

5. The earlier indication of a general contested-case range of seven to eight years in Attorney-General’s Reference Nos 58 to 66 of 2002 [2003] EWCA Crim 63 no longer reflected the necessary contemporary approach to serious firearms offending and should not be relied upon for that proposition. The court also held that double-jeopardy considerations carried little weight when correcting significant custodial sentences for this kind of offence.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — On references by the Attorney General under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the court granted leave and increased all five sentences: [2014] EWCA Crim 651.

• Crown Court at Snaresbrook — Following trials ending on 8 and 20 November 2013, the defendants were convicted of conspiracies concerning a firearm, and in three cases ammunition, with intent to endanger life. On 21 December 2013 the trial judge imposed sentences ranging from four to 10 years’ imprisonment.