R v WK

Where a criminal appellate judgment and order are unclear about how concurrent and consecutive sentences combine, and that lack of clarity creates uncertainty about release, the court may rectify them to give effect to its undoubted overall intention. The rectification should identify the individual sentence relationships and preserve the specified aggregate sentence and licence period. The court corrected the composition of a 16-year custodial term and affirmed the remainder of the sentence.

On 13 October 2017, the Court of Appeal allowed an Attorney General’s Reference and increased the total custodial sentence from 12 to 16 years, with a one-year extended licence period, under section 236A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003: [2017] EWCA Crim 1684. A lack of clarity in the earlier judgment and order meant that the combination of concurrent and consecutive sentences, and consequently the release date, was potentially ambiguous. The parties raised no objection to corrective adjustments. The central issue was how the court should rectify its judgment and order to give effect to its original intention.

The court rectified the earlier judgment and order. The adjustments were made to give effect to the court’s undoubted overall intention and to preserve the specified total sentence of 16 years’ imprisonment with a one-year extended licence period.

1. The earlier judgment had not clearly specified how the individual sentences were to be combined. That lack of clarity created a potential ambiguity concerning the offender’s release date. It was appropriate to rectify both the judgment and the order so that the sentence structure was clear.
2. Paragraph 31 of the earlier judgment was adjusted to specify that the sentence on count 22 was 18 months’ imprisonment, consecutive.
3. The sentences on counts 26 and 32 were each specified as six and a half years’ imprisonment, consecutive, while remaining concurrent with one another.
4. Paragraph (4) of the order was rectified so that the four-year sentence on count 23 was expressed to run concurrently.
5. The remainder of the sentence was affirmed. The original reference to section 236A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 was not interpreted or reconsidered.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — present judgment: Rectified the earlier judgment and order to clarify the concurrent and consecutive sentence structure.
• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): On 13 October 2017, allowed the Attorney General’s Reference and increased the total custodial sentence to 16 years: [2017] EWCA Crim 1684.