ON APPEAL FROM CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT
HIS HONOUR JUDGE HONE QC
T20157241
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE SWEENEY
and
HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN QC
(SITTING AS A JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEAL CRIMINAL DIVISION)
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BLAISE LEWINSON |
Appellant |
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R E G I N A |
Respondent |
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Simon Denison QC (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the Crown
Hearing date : 16 /12/2016
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Crown Copyright ©
His Honour Judge Dean QC:
Facts
The Appellant
The Grounds of Appeal
Sentencing remarks
Discussion
R v Huggins, Clarke and Gordon [2016] EWCA Crim 1715
"In considering the seriousness of any offence, the court must consider the offender's culpability in committing the offence and any harm which the offence caused, was intended to cause or might foreseeably have caused."
Sentence
"...in terms of culpability and harm this case must be placed at the very top of the range of manslaughter cases".
In terms of culpability the learned judge placed the appellant's case "very close to murder" and he gave cogent and clear reasons why that was so. We agree both with HHJ Hone QC's approach and with his conclusion in placing the appellant's case very close to murder in terms of culpability and harm.
" where the offender is aged 15, 16 or 17, the court will need to consider the maturity of the offender as well as chronological age. Where there is no offence specific guideline, it may be appropriate, depending on maturity, to consider a starting point from half to three quarters of that which would have been identified for an adult offender".
Although the learned judge did not depart from the guideline, in reducing the notional determinate sentence to 18 years he allowed only the minimum deduction (25%) the guidelines recommend. We do not consider this reduction was sufficient. The appellant was only 16 at the time of the offence. It was not suggested he was particularly mature or sophisticated for his age and in our judgement the appropriate reduction should have been to two thirds of the determinate term for an adult.