R v Lee Brian Mark Woods

Where intentional strangulation forms a grave and distinct part of a domestic assault, a judge may impose a consecutive sentence for it in addition to a sentence for grievous bodily harm. The aggregate sentence must nevertheless reflect totality.

In applying the sentencing guideline for a section 20 offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, a prolonged and persistent attack causing serious injuries may properly be treated as high culpability and Level 2 harm. A substantial total sentence, reduced to reflect the overall criminality and an early guilty plea, will not be manifestly excessive merely because the component sentences were assessed separately.

The appellant pleaded guilty in the Crown Court at Lewes to inflicting grievous bodily harm contrary to section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, intentional strangulation, and criminal damage. The offending was a sustained domestic assault on his partner. It included repeated punches and kicks, strangulation which stopped her breathing, threats to kill, and injuries including broken ribs. Children were present in the home.

The judge imposed 40 months’ imprisonment after one-third credit for the early guilty pleas. Before that credit, the total was five years: 25 months for grievous bodily harm and 15 months consecutive for intentional strangulation. The appellant appealed against sentence, contending that it was manifestly excessive.

1. Appeal dismissed. The total sentence of five years before credit for plea, reduced to 40 months’ imprisonment, was not manifestly excessive.

2. The section 20 offence was correctly placed in the high-culpability category. The attack was prolonged and persistent. The absence of a weapon did not reduce its seriousness. The number and gravity of the injuries, including broken ribs, made Level 2 harm appropriate. The domestic setting, the presence of children, offending while on licence, and previous convictions justified a sentence towards the top of the applicable range.

3. The intentional strangulation was a very serious and separate feature of the offending. It was different in kind from the grievous bodily harm. The judge was therefore entitled to impose a consecutive sentence for that offence.

4. Pending the new guideline, R v Cook [2023] EWCA Crim 452 provided an 18-month immediate-custody starting point for intentional strangulation. R v Yorke [2023] EWCA Crim 1043 showed that a substantially longer pre-plea sentence could be appropriate in a comparable domestic context. A two-year pre-credit assessment for the strangulation alone was consequently not manifestly excessive.

5. Totality was properly applied. The judge’s five-year pre-credit total reduced by one year the six years produced by separate assessments of four years for the section 20 offence and two years for the strangulation. That adjustment properly reflected the overall criminality.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): dismissed the appeal against sentence: [2024] EWCA Crim 1631.
• Crown Court at Lewes: following guilty pleas, imposed 40 months’ imprisonment after one-third credit for plea, comprising consecutive sentences for grievous bodily harm and intentional strangulation, with a concurrent sentence for criminal damage.