R v Michelle Ellis

A sentencing appeal requires an arguable ground showing that the sentence is open to appellate challenge. Where no such ground is disclosed, the Court of Appeal may refuse both an extension of time and leave to appeal. A sentencing judge may take account of the offender’s mental health, lack of previous convictions and the applicable Sentencing Council guidelines. A sentence appeal does not reopen the making of an underlying order or the circumstances of a guilty plea.

The applicant was sentenced in the Crown Court at Leeds for three breaches of a non-molestation order and one offence of stalking involving serious alarm or distress. She received concurrent 12-month community orders with rehabilitation activity requirements. A single judge refused leave to appeal against sentence and refused an extension of time to renew the application.

The applicant sought a 90-day extension and renewed leave to appeal. The issues were whether there was any arguable challenge to the sentence and, if so, whether time should be extended.

1. Application refused. The court refused the extension of time and leave to appeal against sentence because the proposed grounds disclosed no arguable basis for appellate intervention.
2. The proposed appeal was confined to sentence. The circumstances in which the non-molestation order was made, and the circumstances of the guilty pleas, were not matters for the sentence appeal as presented.
3. The sentencing judge had considered the facts, the applicant’s mental health, lack of previous convictions and the relevant Sentencing Council guidelines. For the breaches of the non-molestation order, he assessed culpability as category A and harm as category 2. Although the guideline starting point was 12 months’ custody, the range extended from a high-level community order to two years’ custody.
4. For the stalking offence, the judge used the guideline applicable to stalking in breach of section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, although the offence was under section 4A, for which more severe sentences could have been available. That did not disclose an arguable ground of appeal because the sentence imposed was a community order and the relevant circumstances had otherwise been taken into account.
5. Since there were no arguable grounds of appeal, there was no purpose in granting the requested extension of time.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): The application for an extension of time to renew the application for leave to appeal against sentence, and the renewed application for leave, were refused.
• Crown Court at Leeds: On 8 March 2024, the applicant received concurrent 12-month community orders for three breaches of a non-molestation order and stalking involving serious alarm or distress.
• Single judge: The application for leave to appeal and the extension of time were refused.