R v Faisal Hussain

In sentencing for a Class A drugs-supply conspiracy, the guideline category must reflect the individual offender’s role, rather than the scale of the overall conspiracy or the role of more senior conspirators. A limited period of involvement, acting under the direction of more sophisticated offenders, and personal mitigation may justify sentencing as a significant-role offender in Category 3. A sentence based on an unduly elevated category may be manifestly excessive and should be reduced while preserving proper credit for guilty pleas, consecutive punishment for separate offending, and totality.

The appellant pleaded guilty at the Crown Court at Burnley to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs committed in 2020 and two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin in 2022. He received a total sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.

The conspiracy involved an organised group operating several drugs lines. The appellant controlled and operated one line for a limited period under the direction of a principal offender. The prosecution placed him towards the lower end of the conspiracy and submitted that he had a significant role. The sentencing judge instead used a Category 2 significant-role starting point. The appeal concerned whether that assessment made the overall sentence manifestly excessive.

1. Appeal allowed. The total sentence of seven years’ imprisonment was manifestly excessive. It was replaced by a sentence of five years and two months’ imprisonment.

2. The court held that the appellant’s role in the conspiracies had to be assessed by reference to his own participation. Although the overall operation involved substantial quantities of Class A drugs and was generally within Category 2, the appellant had participated for a limited period and operated under the direction of more senior offenders.

3. The prosecution had placed him towards the lower end of the hierarchy. Further, even the principal offenders in the indicted conspiracy were treated as having significant rather than leading roles. The appropriate starting point was therefore the significant-role starting point in Category 3 of the Class A drug supply guideline, the category into which street suppliers usually fall.

4. Taking account of the short duration of his involvement, his age and personal circumstances, progress in custody, and influence by more sophisticated offenders, the court adopted a slightly reduced starting point of four years’ imprisonment for the conspiracy offences. It retained the limited reduction for the late guilty pleas and the consecutive sentences for the separate 2020 possession-with-intent offences, while giving effect to totality.

5. The substituted terms were 44 months on each conspiracy count and 18 months on each earlier possession-with-intent count. All subsidiary orders remained unchanged.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): allowed the appeal against sentence and substituted a total sentence of five years and two months’ imprisonment: [2023] EWCA Crim 1096.
• Crown Court at Burnley: on 16 January 2023, imposed a total sentence of seven years’ imprisonment for Class A drug offences and conspiracies.