R v Camron Brown

Where a stabbing causes injuries that could readily have caused death, the harm properly falls within category 1. A knife is a highly dangerous weapon for the sentencing guideline and places the offence in culpability category A.

The category A range nevertheless permits a careful assessment of the weapon used. The size and nature of a small lock-knife may justify placing the offence at the lower end of that range, even though it was highly dangerous when used with intent to injure. A sentence based on an unduly high starting point may therefore be manifestly excessive after proper allowance for youth and good character.

Following a jury trial in the Crown Court at Croydon, the applicant was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. He had stabbed the victim twice in the abdomen with a lock-knife during an altercation at his mother’s home.

The Recorder sentenced him to eight years’ detention in a young offender institution. The single judge refused leave to appeal. The applicant renewed his application, contending that the offence should have been placed in a lower harm and culpability category and that the sentence was manifestly excessive.

1. Appeal against sentence allowed. The court quashed the eight-year sentence and substituted six years and eight months’ detention in a young offender institution.

2. The victim’s injuries could readily have caused death. They were therefore life-threatening and properly placed the offence in category 1 harm. There was no arguable basis for a lower harm category.

3. A lock-knife capable of inflicting these injuries was a highly dangerous weapon within the guideline. Its use placed the offending in culpability category A. The court also noted the established seriousness of carrying and using knives in crime, referring to Attorney General’s Reference (No 49 of 2008), [2008] EWCA Crim 2034.

4. Category A contains a range of seriousness. Although highly dangerous when used to injure, this small lock-knife was not as offensive or intrinsically dangerous as a large machete or zombie knife. Its size and nature, in the circumstances of this offence, required placement at the lower end of category A.

5. The appropriate notional sentence before mitigation was consequently ten years, rather than twelve. Applying the Recorder’s one-third reduction for the applicant’s youth and good character produced a sentence of six years and eight months. The original sentence was manifestly excessive.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): renewed application for leave to appeal against sentence allowed; the sentence was quashed and substituted with six years and eight months’ detention.
• Crown Court at Croydon: following conviction by a jury for causing grievous bodily harm with intent, the Recorder imposed eight years’ detention in a young offender institution.
• Single judge: refused leave to appeal against sentence.