R v Archie Morgan

For causing serious injury by dangerous driving, an obviously highly dangerous overtaking manoeuvre and speed highly inappropriate for the road conditions justify culpability category A. Harm category 1 includes a permanent irreversible injury or condition substantially affecting ordinary activities or work in the long term. That criterion does not require lifelong dependency on care or medical treatment. A sentencing judge may depart from the parties’ agreed guideline categorisation. Credit for remorse may be limited by a late admission of guilt. A properly imposed custodial sentence exceeding three years cannot be suspended.

Where a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser alternative offence and is subsequently convicted of the more serious offence, the correct practice is to leave the lesser count on the file. Whether imposing no separate penalty instead is positively unlawful was left open.

The appellant pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial at Worcester Crown Court to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He had attempted to overtake another vehicle at about 60 miles per hour on a winding road approaching a sharp blind bend. After abandoning the manoeuvre, he lost control and collided head-on with a vehicle driven by Nigel Turner, whose wife, Mara Turner, was the passenger. Both occupants were injured. Mrs Turner suffered serious physical and psychological injuries with lasting effects on ordinary activities.

The sentencing judge placed the offence in guideline category A1, although both parties had proposed category B2. He imposed 38 months’ imprisonment after a five per cent guilty plea reduction, a 55-month driving disqualification and an extended driving test requirement. The appellant appealed with the single judge’s leave, challenging the categorisation and sentence and seeking a sentence of three years or less which could be suspended.

The appellant had also pleaded guilty to the lesser alternative offence of causing serious injury by careless and inconsiderate driving. The judge imposed no separate penalty on that count. The court additionally considered the correct practice for disposing of lesser alternative counts.

The appeal was dismissed.

1. The sentencing judge was entitled to reach a different guideline categorisation from that proposed by both parties. Having heard eyewitness evidence before the change of plea, he was well placed to assess the offending. Culpability category A was justified by an obviously highly dangerous manoeuvre and speed highly inappropriate for the road conditions. Abandoning the attempted overtake did not reduce its dangerous character: the appellant had already reached a point at which he could not control the vehicle. Racing or competitive driving was a possible additional factor, but the prosecution had not advanced it and the categorisation rested on the two established factors (paras [19]–[22]).

2. Harm category 1 was justified by a permanent irreversible injury or condition having a substantial and long-term effect on ordinary activities. The evidence established serious continuing restrictions on Mrs Turner’s mobility, household activities and ability to travel, together with pain and psychological harm. Her ability to stand for 20 minutes and her retirement did not undermine that assessment. The criterion did not require injuries equivalent to the guideline’s other examples of particularly grave or life-threatening injury or lifelong dependency. R v Howdle (Nicholas John) [2025] EWCA Crim 789 concerned different facts and provided no basis for disturbing the assessment (paras [23]–[27]).

3. The pre-discount sentence of 40 months was close to the bottom of the category A1 range of three to five years, whose starting point was four years. There were two injured victims. The judge had considered the relevant mitigation, including good character, driving record, remorse and age. The late admission of guilt limited the available credit for remorse. The driving resulted from irresponsibility rather than inexperience, and the evidence did not establish unusual immaturity. The sentence was not manifestly excessive. Since a sentence exceeding three years was properly imposed, suspension could not arise (paras [28]–[31]).

4. As a supplementary observation, the court endorsed the approach in R v Butler [2023] EWCA Crim 676; [2023] 2 Cr App R(S) 46. Where a guilty plea to a lesser alternative offence precedes conviction of the more serious offence, the lesser count should lie on the file rather than attract no separate penalty. This avoids convictions for two alternative offences arising from the same conduct. Whether the contrary disposal was positively unlawful remained open: the issue had not been argued and the disposal had not increased the sentence to be served. No corrective order was made concerning that count (paras [32]–[34]).

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): In [2026] EWCA Crim 1291 , dismissed the appeal against sentence, brought with the single judge’s leave.
• Worcester Crown Court: The appellant pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving on 29 April 2026. On 17 June 2026, HHJ Lockhart KC imposed 38 months’ imprisonment, a 55-month driving disqualification and an extended driving test requirement. No separate penalty was imposed for the lesser alternative offence.