R v Terry Butt & Anor

An erroneous Court Extract or sending sheet does not necessarily deprive the Crown Court of jurisdiction. The decisive question is what order the magistrates actually made and whether they had power to make it; the record is presumptive evidence, not conclusive. A valid order remains effective if the statutory power was available, even when the transfer provision was recorded incorrectly. Fundamental procedural failures, including failure to follow the section 17A plea-before-venue process or committing an offender without conviction, may deprive the Crown Court of jurisdiction. A sentencing court cannot sentence for summary offences without conviction or a guilty plea. An extended licence for a specified violent offence cannot exceed five years.

These were two unrelated applications for leave to appeal against sentence, heard together because they raised common questions about procedural errors when cases are transferred from a magistrates’ court to the Crown Court.

Terry Butt had been convicted of dangerous driving at the Crown Court at Basildon and later dealt with for related offences. David Jenkins had been convicted of wounding with intent at the Crown Court at Newcastle upon Tyne and sentenced to an extended sentence. The central issues were whether errors in the magistrates’ court records affected Crown Court jurisdiction, whether Jenkins had been sentenced without conviction for summary offences, and whether either sentence was excessive or wrong in principle.

Leave to appeal was granted in both cases.

1. Procedural jurisdiction. The court held that the question of what power the magistrates’ court exercised is one of fact. A Court Extract or sending sheet is presumptively accurate, but is not conclusive. Jurisdiction derives from the order actually made, provided the magistrates had power to make it, rather than from an inaccurate record of that order.
2. The consequence of a procedural error depends on statutory construction. Failure to follow the mandatory plea-before-venue procedure under the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 may invalidate subsequent proceedings. A committal for sentence without a conviction or qualifying guilty plea also leaves the Crown Court without jurisdiction. By contrast, an administrative or recording error does not necessarily invalidate a valid transfer. The court declined to follow the reasoning in R v Clark [2023] EWCA Crim 309 to the extent that it treated defects in the sending sheet as depriving the Crown Court of jurisdiction. It followed the line of authority represented by R v Hall, R v Russell and R v Ayhan.
3. Butt. The magistrates’ court had validly sent the not-guilty matters for trial and committed the guilty-plea matters for sentence. The erroneous sending sheet did not alter that position. The summary specimen offence remained subject to an adjourned magistrates’ court trial under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The conviction for dangerous driving was valid. The sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment and the related disqualification were not manifestly excessive or wrong in principle. The appeal was dismissed.
4. Jenkins. The summary offences had been sent to the Crown Court for trial, but Jenkins had neither been convicted of them nor pleaded guilty. The sentences imposed for them were therefore quashed as imposed without jurisdiction. The offences were to lie on the file without being proceeded with without leave. The alternative unlawful-wounding count was to lie on the file rather than being marked discontinued, following R v Cole (1965) 49 Cr App R 199.
5. Jenkins’ custodial term of 14 years was upheld. The judge was entitled to find high culpability, category 1 harm and dangerousness. However, wounding with intent is a specified violent offence, for which the maximum extended licence period is five years under the Sentencing Act 2020. The six-year licence period was quashed and an extended sentence of 19 years, comprising 14 years’ custody and five years’ extended licence, was substituted. The appeal was allowed to that limited extent.

• Crown Court at Basildon: Butt was convicted of dangerous driving and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment with a driving disqualification.
• Crown Court at Newcastle upon Tyne: Jenkins was convicted of wounding with intent and received an extended sentence of 20 years.
• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): Leave granted in both cases. Butt’s appeal dismissed. Jenkins’ extended sentence reduced to 19 years and the sentences imposed for the unconvicted summary offences quashed.