Disley, R. v

An appellate court will not interfere with a sentence where the sentencing judge considered all material matters, excluded irrelevant matters and imposed a sentence within the proper range of discretion.

Where custody and disqualification are imposed, Road Traffic Act 1988, section 35A requires the disqualification period to run from release. The order must state its effect with clarity and precision. A court dealing with breach of a suspended sentence order must make a statutory disposal; it cannot make no order. It may activate the suspended term concurrently where that gives effect to totality.

The appellant pleaded guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and to three offences of driving while unfit through drugs. While seriously affected by drugs, he drove on the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with another vehicle, causing serious injuries to its driver.

He received two years’ imprisonment for dangerous driving, concurrent sentences for the drug-driving offences, and four years’ disqualification subject to an extended re-test. He appealed on the ground that the sentence was manifestly excessive. The Registrar also identified defects in the disqualification order and in the judge’s treatment of the appellant’s breach of a suspended sentence order.

1. The appeal against the substantive sentence was dismissed. The judge had considered the relevant mitigating and aggravating features, including the guilty plea, remorse, drug misuse, the grave injuries caused and the appellant’s relevant convictions. The resulting two-year sentence was within the judge’s sentencing discretion. It was fortunate that the dangerous driving had not caused a death.

2. The disqualification order required correction. Under section 35A of the Road Traffic Act 1988, where a custodial sentence accompanies disqualification, the whole disqualification period must run after release from custody. The original order lacked the clarity required by R v Needham & Ors [2016] EWCA Crim 455. The court therefore imposed, on count 1, disqualification for three years extended by 12 months under section 35A, leaving the remaining sentences unchanged.

3. The judge could not make no order on the suspended sentence breach. Paragraph 8 of Schedule 12 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 required the court to deal with the offender in one of the prescribed ways. To give effect both to that duty and to the judge’s totality assessment, the court activated the six-month suspended sentence for affray and directed that it run concurrently with the two-year term.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): The appeal against the two-year custodial sentence was dismissed. The court corrected the disqualification order and activated the six-month suspended sentence concurrently.

• Crown Court at Caernarfon: On 23 October 2017, the appellant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, concurrent four-month sentences, and four years’ disqualification.