Grainger, R v

For a fourth qualifying domestic burglary, section 111 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 sets a three-year minimum, subject to the statutory injustice exception. Its 20% plea-credit limit does not cap credit on a sentence substantially above three years. Ordinary guilty-plea principles apply if the final sentence remains at least 80% of three years. In assessing totality, the court must examine the practical effect of the aggregate sentence, including concurrency and the portion of earlier sentences effectively served. A stiff aggregate sentence for closely timed serious burglaries and an offender with a bad record was not manifestly excessive. The appeal was allowed only to correct the plea credit, reducing the sentence from 33 to 31 months.

After pleading guilty in Cardiff Crown Court to a serious domestic burglary, the appellant received 33 months' imprisonment. It was his fourth qualifying domestic burglary, engaging section 111 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. He was already serving sentences totalling 35 months for an earlier domestic burglary, a commercial burglary and related offending. The appeal challenged both the 20% guilty-plea credit and the totality and proportionality of the resulting sentence. The central issues were whether 25% credit was permissible and whether the combined sentence was manifestly excessive.

The appeal was allowed to the limited extent that the guilty-plea credit was increased from 20% to 25%. The sentence of 33 months was quashed and a sentence of 31 months was substituted.

1. Minimum sentence and plea credit. Section 111 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 required a minimum three-year sentence for the appellant’s fourth qualifying domestic burglary unless particular circumstances made that unjust. The statutory reference to a maximum 20% discount operated as a floor: the final sentence could not be less than 80% of three years. It did not prevent ordinary plea-credit principles applying where the sentence before credit substantially exceeded three years. The court applied R v Gray [2007] EWCA Crim 979; [2007] 2 Cr App R(S) 78.
2. Application. The plea was entered at the PTPH, so 25% credit was appropriate. A sentence of 42 months reduced by 25% produced approximately 31½ months, or 958 days, which remained above the statutory floor of 876 days. The error justified appellate intervention despite the comparatively small difference.
3. Totality. The practical impact of the aggregate sentence had to be assessed, taking account of the concurrency between the sentences and the amount of the earlier sentence effectively served. The three burglaries resulted in an effective total of about 51 months. Given the seriousness of the Brackla burglary, its proximity to the earlier domestic burglary and the appellant’s bad record, that total was stiff but not manifestly excessive. It was just and proportionate.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): In [2020] EWCA Crim 1430, the appeal was allowed in part. The sentence was reduced from 33 to 31 months.
• Cardiff Crown Court: On 7 May 2020, the appellant pleaded guilty to domestic burglary and was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment.