High, R v

Where a sentencing judge adopts a starting point and gives full credit for a prompt guilty plea, the custodial term must accurately reflect that reduction. An arithmetical error in calculating the reduction renders the sentence excessive to that extent. The appellate court may quash the affected sentences and substitute corrected extended sentences while preserving the intended extension period.

The appellant pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to two offences of distributing indecent photographs of children and two offences of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence.

For the latter offences, the judge imposed concurrent extended sentences comprising five years and six months’ custody and four years’ extended licence. The judge had identified eight years as the custodial starting point and accepted that the appellant was entitled to full, 33 per cent credit for prompt guilty pleas.

The appeal concerned whether the custodial term correctly reflected that credit.

1. The appeal was allowed to the limited extent of correcting the sentence. The judge’s stated starting point was eight years’ imprisonment and he allowed full credit of 33 per cent for the prompt guilty pleas.
2. A reduction of one third from eight years produced a custodial term of five years and four months. The term of five years and six months was therefore an arithmetical error.
3. The prosecution accepted that the ground was well founded. The error had not been identified by either counsel at the sentencing hearing.
4. The court quashed the sentences for the two offences under section 14(1) and substituted extended sentences under section 226A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Each consisted of five years and four months’ custody and four years’ extended licence, making a total extended sentence of nine years and four months.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — allowed the appeal to the limited extent of correcting the custodial element and substituted extended sentences of nine years and four months: [2018] EWCA Crim 499.
• Crown Court at Maidstone — on 21 August 2015 imposed concurrent extended sentences of five years and six months’ custody plus four years’ extended licence for the section 14 offences.