R v Kozhem Nawzad Noori

In sentencing offences involving false identity documents, use of a document to obtain work is ordinarily less serious than use to gain entry to the United Kingdom, but earlier sentencing levels are not rigid ceilings. A higher sentence may be justified by the sophistication and purpose of the forgery, public-safety risks, breach of immigration conditions and the need for deterrence. Good character and personal mitigation may have limited weight where the offender was living in significant breach of the rules governing his presence. Full guilty-plea credit is available where the defendant did everything reasonably possible to plead guilty at the first opportunity, even if procedural error prevented the plea being formally recorded. A deportation recommendation is not automatically invalidated by failure to give statutory notice where no prejudice is possible.

The appellant pleaded guilty in the Crown Court at Leicester to possessing a forged Greek driving licence with improper intention, contrary to sections 4(1) and (2) of the Identity Documents Act 2010. He received 15 months’ imprisonment and a recommendation for deportation.

He appealed against sentence, arguing that the starting point was excessive, that insufficient weight was given to his good character and family circumstances, and that he should have received one-third rather than 25 per cent credit for his guilty plea. He also challenged the deportation recommendation because the notice required by section 6(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 had not been served.

The central issues were the appropriate sentencing range, the weight of mitigation and deterrence, the correct credit for the plea, and the effect of the procedural failure concerning deportation.

1. Sentence and mitigation. The appeal against the sentence level was dismissed. Earlier authorities indicated that cases involving identity documents used only to obtain work generally attract lower sentences than cases involving documents used to gain entry to the United Kingdom. They did not prevent a higher sentence in a serious case. The forged driving licence was sophisticated, made to order by a foreign forger, and created a potential public-safety risk because it could enable unlawful driving. The appellant also sought employment denied by the asylum rules and was living and working in breach of those rules. A 20-month starting point was therefore within the available range.
2. The sentencing judge was entitled to give very limited weight to good character and personal circumstances. Deterrence had increased importance in 2025 under section 57(2) of the Sentencing Act 2020, given the pressure on the asylum system. A draft sentencing guideline issued for consultation had no significance before becoming definitive.
3. Guilty plea. The appellant was entitled to one-third credit. He had done everything possible to plead guilty at the first available opportunity, and the failure to record the plea resulted partly from the use of an inappropriate notice and the absence of a Better Case Management Form. The sentence was recalculated as 58 weeks’ imprisonment.
4. Deportation recommendation. The failure to serve the notice required by section 6(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 did not automatically invalidate the recommendation. Applying the approach in R v Abdi, reaffirmed in R v Layden, the court had to construe the statutory consequence and consider prejudice. No prejudice was possible because the appellant was not a British citizen. Nevertheless, the recommendation was quashed because deportation was appropriately a matter for the Home Secretary and the specialist tribunals, as explained in R v Aderemi.
5. The judge’s sentence and deportation recommendation were quashed. An immediate term of 58 weeks’ imprisonment was substituted.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): R v Kozhem Nawzad Noori, [2025] EWCA Crim 1736. The sentence and deportation recommendation were quashed; 58 weeks’ immediate imprisonment was substituted.
• Crown Court at Leicester: The appellant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, with a statutory surcharge and a recommendation for deportation.