ROYAL COURT
(Samedi Division)
10 September 1999
Before: F C Hamon, Deputy Bailiff,
Jurats Rumfitt, Le Breton
AG
v
Kelly Louise Evans
14 counts of obtaining goods by false pretences
Age: 21
Plea: Guilty
Details of Offence:
Evans and her then boyfriend came to the Island for an overnight stay. Her boyfriend stole a number of credit cards which the two then used to purchase over £4,000 worth of goods in two hours. It was accepted that Evans did not set out to commit these offences in Jersey, and that the prime mover was her boyfriend. Although she signed some of them, the vast majority of the credit card slips were signed by her boyfriend, although she assisted in selecting the items to be purchased and had some of the clothing in her possession when apprehended some months later.
Details of Mitigation:
Guilty plea. Remorse. Age (Evans was 20 when the offences were committed but 21 when sentenced and accordingly the provisions of the Criminal Justice (Young Offenders) Law 1994 did not apply). She had now ended her relationship with her co-offender and commenced a relationship with a young man with no previous convictions.
Previous Convictions:
Three previous convictions for offences of dishonesty, two of which were committed after the events in question and one of which was committed before. However, all three convictions related to the period when Evans was in a relationship with her co-offender. At the time of sentencing she was subject to an England probation order and was completing a period of community service.
Conclusions: 9 months imprisonment on each count, concurrent.
Sentence & Observations of Court: 2 years Probation with 150 hours Community Service. The Court accepted that the conclusions were justifiable as a matter of law but, in view of the fact that Evans had now severed her connections with someone who had clearly influenced her, and that she was making considerable progress as a result of the English Probation Order, the Court felt able to impose a non-custodial sanction. Accordingly the Court sentenced Evans to two years probation on condition that she completed 150 hours Community Service. The probation and community Service to be supervised by the Staffordshire Probation Service.
A R Binnington, Crown Advocate
Advocate M H D Taylor for the Accused
JUDGMENT
THE DEPUTY BAILIFF: In September 1998 Miss Evans and a man called Page came to Jersey by design. Within hours of arriving Page had stolen wallets from an office in Bond Street, and the pair of them had engaged in an orgy of criminality. Within two hours, with stolen credit cards, they made off with some £4,000 of goods.
Page apparently had a drug habit, and in any event is in custody in England. Miss Evans has broken with him, and that is to her credit, and her present boyfriend has come, apparently, to Jersey to support her in Court today.
In December 1998 she appeared at Mid-Warwickshire Magistrates Court, and received a conditional discharge for identical offences to the present matters committed in October last year. In May this year, at Sutton Coldfield Magistrates Court, for handling and attempting to obtain goods, offences committed in July last year, she received an 18-month Probation Order, with a condition she attends the Woman’s Offending Behaviour Group.
The learned Crown Advocate has concluded that she be sent to prison for nine month’s on each count concurrent, and we have to say that our reading of the Authorities gives us no reason to doubt that in law this conclusion is absolutely correct.
We have to say this to Mr Taylor, who has said everything that he could say on his client’s behalf, that an argument that the effect of prison is likely to have on an offender with offences of this magnitude is of no persuasion to this Court whatsoever. However, the Staffordshire Probation Report refers to much progress having been made. We have looked at her youth and her response to what she has been given to do in England up to date. She is no longer - as we have said - under the influence of Page. We are going to place you on probation for two years; and you will carry out 150 hours of Community Service. That will be done in England, and if you offend during those two years you will be brought back to Jersey and you will be sentenced for these offences.
Authorities
A.G -v- Hamon (28 May 1998) Jersey Unreported
A.G -v- Dickison (7 May 1999) Jersey Unreported [1999.079]
A.G -v- Durkin (7 August 1998) Jersey Unreported
Whelan: Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Courts of Jersey: p.53
A.G -v- Lavery & Anor (28 May 1999) Jersey Unreported. [1999.092]