REGINA v DAVID WILSON

Where Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.243(2) applies, the sentencing court must specify the number of days for which an offender was held in custody awaiting extradition. The allowance is mandatory, not discretionary. If the number of days is omitted, the prison cannot give credit for that period.

Once the period for correction under the slip rule has expired, the appropriate remedy is an appeal against sentence. An extension of time may be granted where the omission and delay arose through oversight for which the offender was not personally responsible.

The applicant was sentenced at Grimsby Crown Court on 7 December 2020 to seven years’ imprisonment for a series of indecent assaults against children. He had been arrested in Australia on an outstanding warrant and was held there pending extradition before returning to the United Kingdom.

He did not challenge the length of the sentence. His applications for an extension of time and leave to appeal concerned the sentencing judge’s failure to state the 124 days spent in custody awaiting extradition, as required by Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.243(2).

1. The court extended time, treated the applications as a substantive appeal, and allowed the appeal to the limited extent necessary to correct the omission.

2. Under Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.243(2), the sentencing court was required to specify the number of days for which the applicant had been kept in custody awaiting extradition. The allowance was mandatory. It was not a matter for the judge’s discretion.

3. Absent that specification, the prison could not credit the relevant time. The agreed period was 124 days.

4. The time for correction under the slip rule had expired. An appeal against sentence was therefore the appropriate means of obtaining the required statement. The delay resulted from an oversight for which the applicant was not personally responsible.

5. The court specified that the applicant had been held in custody awaiting extradition for 124 days. He was to receive credit for that period, and the appeal was allowed to that extent only.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): allowed the appeal to the limited extent of specifying 124 days’ custody awaiting extradition under Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.243(2): [2021] EWCA Crim 1537 .

• Grimsby Crown Court: sentenced the applicant on 7 December 2020 to seven years’ imprisonment, without specifying the extradition-custody period.