Rushworth, R v

For robbery in a dwelling, production of a knife to threaten violence placed culpability in Category A under the Sentencing Council robbery guideline. Where harm was Category 3, the resulting Category 3A guideline indicated a starting point of five years’ imprisonment and a range of four to eight years.

A sentencing judge should not reduce that starting point before allowing appropriate credit for a guilty plea. A suspended sentence was erroneous where time spent on remand would count if the sentence were activated, leaving no effective custodial sanction for breach.

The Solicitor General referred the offender’s sentence under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 as unduly lenient.

The offender had pleaded guilty, after the jury had been sworn, to robbing a man in his home with another person. During the robbery, the offender threatened the victim with a kitchen knife, held it to his neck and struck him with its handle. Property was taken.

The Recorder at Norwich Crown Court imposed a two-year suspended sentence with drug rehabilitation and alcohol treatment requirements. He directed that the 14 months spent on remand should not count towards the sentence. The central issue was whether that sentence was unduly lenient.

1. The court granted leave and allowed the Attorney General’s reference. The two-year suspended sentence was unduly lenient.

2. This was plainly Category 3A robbery in a dwelling. The knife was produced to threaten violence, placing culpability in Category A. The harm was properly assessed as Category 3. The applicable guideline starting point was five years’ imprisonment, with an indicative range of four to eight years.

3. The court rejected the Recorder’s reduction of the starting point to four years before credit for the plea. The offender’s poor record, failure to respond to earlier sentences and joint commission of the robbery did not justify that reduction.

4. The Recorder’s approach to suspension and remand time was erroneous. The offender’s time on remand would count if the suspended sentence were activated. The proposed order therefore provided no effective sanction for breach.

5. Starting from 60 months, the court allowed 10 per cent credit for the late guilty plea, producing 54 months. It allowed a further month because the offender had served part of the suspended sentence. The court quashed the suspended sentence and substituted a custodial term of four years and five months, for which the remand period would count.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): On the Attorney General’s reference under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the court allowed the reference and increased the sentence: [2018] EWCA Crim 2196.
• Crown Court at Norwich: The Recorder imposed a two-year suspended sentence for robbery, with drug rehabilitation and alcohol treatment requirements.