CRIMINAL DIVISION
REFERENCE BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER
S.36 OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 1988
Royal Courts of Justice Strand London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE SWEENEY
HER HONOUR JUDGE WENDY JOSEPH QC
(Sitting as a Judge of the CACD)
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R E G I N A | ||
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DANIEL WILLIAM ANGUS LEWIS |
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Epiq Europe Ltd 165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY
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(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Mr S Kamlish QC appeared on behalf of the Offender
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Crown Copyright ©
"While there are no statutory aggravating features identified, ... the Crown would submit that given the scope of the dealing, and the scale of the drugs, the sophistication of the dark net involvement and the bank transfers, it may fall higher than the standard starting point."
"... there has been a very lengthy delay in this case, which I am satisfied the delays were not your fault, other than of course the fact you were contesting the matter, but effectively we are now in excess of two years since you were first arrested, and it is clear to me from all the material I have read there have been very significant changes in your life, not least the substantial period of counselling which, if I read that report correctly, continues to this day with a drugs counsellor to ensure that you have remained drug free.
You have been honest enough to admit to both the probation officer and indeed a psychiatrist who assessed you there have been a couple of slip ups, but that on the whole you have remained drug free now for a considerable period of time.
Perhaps more importantly both the psychiatric and psychological reports make it very clear that at the time we are concerned with you had an undiagnosed medical disorder, namely Asperger's, with a dissociative disorder, that undoubtedly underpinned your addiction to drugs. It does not explain your dealing in them, but it certainly explains why you were heavily involved in the drugs scene as you undoubtedly were. But, as has been made very clear, you are now, as I say you are drug free, you are dealing with your mental illness, you are undertaking charity work; you are a very different person from that who was arrested in 2016.
And so, it comes to this, I either apply the guidelines which, as I say, on the face of it quite clearly merit a very substantial custodial sentence or I take what many will consider to be an extremely lenient course, but I remind myself that guidelines are just that, they are not tramlines that I am bound by.
In fact, it seems to me if I were to sentence you today..., if I sent you to prison immediately today, given all the hard work you have undertaken in the last two years, that sentence would be pure punishment, and I remind myself my responsibility not only is to punish you for offending, but to encourage rehabilitation and to ensure the protection of the public in the future from further offending and, therefore, I am going to take that course."
"Where the defendant is dependent on or has a propensity to misuse drugs and there is sufficient prospect of success, a community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement under section 209 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 can be a proper alternative to a short or moderate length custodial sentence."
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