R v Huseyin Ozkara

For historic offences, sentencing must reflect the maximum penalty in force when the offences were committed. Current sentencing guidelines may be used, but their ranges require adjustment where they reflect a later, higher maximum.

Culpability for causing death by dangerous driving must be assessed by reference to factors actually established. Driving through a give-way junction is not automatically an obviously highly dangerous manoeuvre. Where category A factors are unproved and the conduct exceeds category C, category B is appropriate. Multiple deaths arising from the same conduct materially aggravate sentence, although concurrent sentences may be imposed. An extradited person may be dealt with only for an offence covered by the extradition, subject to exceptions. An extended driving disqualification cannot apply to offences committed before the relevant statutory commencement date.

The appellant was convicted at the Crown Court at Chester in 1999 of two offences of causing death by dangerous driving. After fleeing the country, he was extradited from France nearly 25 years later and sentenced in May 2024 to concurrent terms of 12 years’ imprisonment, together with driving disqualifications. He also received eight months’ imprisonment for failing to surrender to bail.

He appealed against the bail conviction and against the sentences for causing death by dangerous driving. The issues were whether the bail offence was within the scope of the extradition, the appropriate culpability category and sentence under the applicable guidelines, and whether the extended driving disqualification could lawfully be imposed.

Appeals allowed. The conviction and sentence for failing to surrender to bail were quashed. The sentences for causing death by dangerous driving were reduced to eight years’ imprisonment each, to run concurrently. The extended driving disqualification was quashed, but the seven-year disqualification remained in force.

1. Section 146 of the Extradition Act 2003 restricted the appellant’s being dealt with in the United Kingdom to offences for which he had been extradited, subject to exceptions. He had not been extradited for failing to surrender to bail, and France had not consented to that offence being pursued. The conviction and sentence were therefore unlawful.
2. The offences were committed in 1999, when the maximum sentence was 10 years’ imprisonment. The appellant had to be sentenced according to the law then in force. The current guidelines could be considered, but a downward adjustment was required because they were framed against a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
3. The sentencing judge was entitled to reject category C, which concerned driving only just over the threshold for dangerous driving. However, driving through a junction in daylight despite visible give-way signs did not, without more, amount to an obviously highly dangerous manoeuvre for category A purposes. No category A factor had been proved. In particular, there was no proper evidential basis for finding a deliberate decision to disregard the risk of danger. The appropriate category was therefore category B.
4. The aggravating features included that the victims were vulnerable road users and that there was a passenger in the vehicle. The previous convictions carried little weight. The fact that two people died from the same conduct was by far the most serious aggravating feature. A sentence of about nine years before mitigation was appropriate, reduced to eight years for personal mitigation.
5. The statutory provisions permitting an extended period of disqualification applied only to offences committed on or after 13 April 2015. They could not apply to these 1999 offences. The seven-year disqualification was left in place, with an extended retest ordered.

1. Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): In [2026] EWCA Crim 479, the appeals were allowed. The bail conviction and sentence were quashed; the dangerous-driving sentences were reduced to eight years each, concurrent; and the extended disqualification was quashed.
2. Crown Court at Chester: The appellant had been convicted in 1999 of two offences of causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced in May 2024 to concurrent terms of 12 years’ imprisonment, together with driving disqualifications. He was also convicted and sentenced for failing to surrender to bail.