R v Deon Suleman

Time spent on remand for offences dealt with by committal for sentence counts against a sentence for indictment offences where the offences are related within section 240ZA(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The credit operates administratively and automatically. It is not a matter for the sentencing judge to adjust under the slip rule. A procedural application or appeal brought to secure that credit is therefore ordinarily inappropriate. An appeal may nevertheless be allowed for a separate sentencing error, such as recording the victim surcharge in the wrong amount.

The applicant pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court on 21 June 2021 to two possession-with-intent-to-supply offences and was committed for sentence. On 7 August 2022, the Crown Court at Birmingham, before Mr Recorder Adrian Jack, imposed sentence for offences on the indictment. The applicant sought to use the slip rule and an appeal to obtain credit for time spent on remand. The Court of Appeal also considered an error in the recorded victim surcharge.

1. Remand credit. Time spent on remand for the two offences to which the applicant pleaded guilty, and for which he was committed for sentence, counted against the sentence imposed for the indictment offences because the offences were related within section 240ZA(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
2. The credit was to be applied administratively and automatically. It was not a matter that the Recorder had to address when sentencing for the indictment offences. An application to adjust the sentence under the slip rule, and an appeal brought for that purpose, were not the appropriate jurisdictional routes, although the proceedings had produced the correct administrative result. The extension of time would therefore ordinarily have been refused.
3. The victim surcharge had been recorded in the wrong amount. It should have been recorded as £170. The court accordingly granted an extension of time, granted leave to appeal, and allowed the appeal to the limited extent of correcting the victim surcharge order.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): On 4 October 2024, the court granted an extension of time and leave to appeal, and allowed the appeal only to correct the victim surcharge order to £170. It held that remand credit applied administratively and automatically.
• Crown Court at Birmingham: On 7 August 2022, Mr Recorder Adrian Jack sentenced the applicant for the indictment offences.
• Magistrates’ court: On 21 June 2021, the applicant pleaded guilty to two possession-with-intent-to-supply offences and was committed for sentence.