R v Adam Reed

An extended sentence requires all statutory conditions to be satisfied. The four-year term condition requires a single custodial term of at least four years for a specified offence. Separate consecutive sentences below four years cannot be aggregated to meet it. However, the seriousness of associated offending may be reflected in a single sentence for a specified offence, subject to the statutory maximum and totality. A final sentence for multiple offences must be just and proportionate overall, ordinarily requiring a downward adjustment from the aggregate of individual sentences. A temporary perforated eardrum with full recovery did not justify the highest harm category for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The applicant pleaded guilty to several violent offences committed against prison staff and another prisoner while serving a sentence at HMP Parc. The Crown Court at Merthyr Tydfil imposed a nine-year extended determinate sentence, comprising seven years’ custody and a two-year extended licence.

On appeal, the applicant challenged the availability of the extended sentence, the categorisation of the assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and the overall proportionality of the sentence. The central issues were whether the four-year term condition could be met by consecutive sentences, what harm category applied to the perforated eardrum, and whether the total sentence was manifestly excessive.

The appeal was allowed to the extent stated below.

1. Under the Sentencing Code 2020, the applicant was a dangerous offender and an extended sentence was necessary to manage the significant risk of serious harm from further specified offences. Nevertheless, the statutory gateway was not satisfied as the sentence had originally been constructed. The earlier offence condition was not met because none of the relevant previous convictions concerned an offence listed in Schedule 14. The four-year term condition also was not met because no single sentence for a specified offence reached four years.

2. The court applied the principle in R v Pinnell and Joyce [2010] EWCA Crim 2848, followed in R v GG [2013] EWCA Crim 1302 and reaffirmed in R v Camara [2022] EWCA Crim 542. Consecutive sentences, each below four years, cannot be aggregated to create the required term. It is permissible, however, to impose a single sentence for one specified offence which reflects associated offending, subject to the statutory maximum and totality.

3. The perforated eardrum and temporary hearing loss, which required no treatment and resolved fully, did not justify the highest harm category for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The offence fell within category A2. After adjustment for aggravating features and the guilty plea, the appropriate sentence was 18 months.

4. The individual sentences for the remaining offences were justified, but the overall sentence had to be just and proportionate to the offending as a whole. Seven years’ custody after guilty pleas, equivalent to a sentence exceeding nine years after trial, was manifestly excessive. Five years was the appropriate overall custodial term.

5. The sentence for false imprisonment was treated as the lead sentence and increased to five years. The sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm was reduced to 18 months. All other sentences remained unaltered but ran concurrently with the five-year term. The nine-year extended sentence was quashed and replaced by a seven-year extended sentence comprising five years’ custody and a two-year extended licence.

• Crown Court at Merthyr Tydfil — Following guilty pleas, the applicant was sentenced on 6 March 2025 to a nine-year extended determinate sentence comprising seven years’ custody and a two-year extended licence.
• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — Leave to appeal was granted. The sentence was quashed and replaced with a seven-year extended sentence comprising five years’ custody and a two-year extended licence: [2025] EWCA Crim 1471.