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Jersey Unreported Judgments
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Jersey Unreported Judgments >> 1999/6 - AG v Cairns [1999] UR 6 (15 January 1999)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/je/cases/UR/1999/6.html
Cite as: [1999] UR 6
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ROYAL COURT
(Samedi Division)
15 January 1999
Before: Sir Philip Bailhache Bailiff and
Jurats Rumfitt and de Veulle
AG
-v-
Thomas Gerald Owens Cairns
5 counts of: larceny as a servant (counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
1 count of: obtaining money by false pretences (count 6)
1 count of: attempting to obtain money by false pretences (count 7)
Plea: Guilty
Age: 34
Details of Offence:
Defendant employed by GC Noel & Co. Limited. He was responsible for banking the companys payments. Between 15 and 25 September 1997 he stole £104,000 in cheques and cash. All cheques were recovered. Between October, 1996 and August, 1997 he obtained personal loans of just under £14,000. He was a gambler. By August, 1997 the repayments on the loans were more than his income. Offences came to light because of a letter defendant had left on photocopying machine which he had forged. The letter purported to come from Crill Canavan suggesting a system of structured repayments to various creditors to whom he apparently owed the global sum of £12,000. Counts 6 and 7 were obtaining and attempting to obtain loans whilst failing to disclose outstanding finance agreements and falsifying his net income.
Details of Mitigation:
Guilty plea, co-operative once discovered. Defendant married with three boys: lived in service accommodation which he lost upon the discovery of the offences. Family has had to return to Scotland. Remorse. First offender.
Previous Convictions:
None
Conclusions:
counts 1 - 3 : 2 years imprisonment
counts 4 - 7 : 1 year imprisonment
All concurrent
Sentence and Observations
of the Court:
counts 1 -3 : 1 year imprisonment
counts 4 - 7 : 6 months imprisonment
All concurrent
Mrs S Sharpe, Crown Advocate
Advocate P C Harris for the accused
JUDGMENT
THE BAILIFF: In the English guideline case of Barrick (1985) 7 Cr. App. R. (S) 142, the Lord Chief Justice stated in relation to cases of this kind that:
"In general a term of immediate imprisonment is inevitable, save in very exceptional circumstances or where the amount of money obtained is small. Despite the great punishment that offenders of this sort bring upon themselves, the court should nevertheless pass a sufficiently substantial term of imprisonment to mark publicly the gravity of the offence. The sum involved is obviously not the only factor to be considered but it may in many cases provide a useful guide. Where the amounts involved could not be described as small, but are less than £10,000 or thereabouts, terms of imprisonment ranging from the very short up to about eighteen months were appropriate."
The Court has in previous cases adopted those guidelines and proposes to do so in this case too. We think, however, that it is important to take into account the effect of inflation upon the figure referred to by the Lord Chief Justice and for £10,000 in 1985 it is necessary to contemplate a figure today of at least £20,000.
The Defendant in this case has realistically and very properly accepted the inevitability of a prison sentence. That is very much to his credit. There is, furthermore, strong mitigation in this case.
We accept, Cairns, your genuine remorse at the damage which you inflicted upon your employer, and equally importantly upon your family and, indeed, upon yourself. We have taken full account of the references as to your character which have been placed before us and we have also taken into account your stated intention to repay the money which you have stolen.
Tempering justice with mercy we are going to reduce the conclusions and you will be sentenced as follows: on count 1: 12 months imprisonment; count 2 - 3: 12 months’ imprisonment; and on the remaining counts on the indictment: 6 months imprisonment. All those sentences to run concurrently, making a total of 12 months’ imprisonment.
Authorities
Barrick (1985) 7 Cr. App. R. (S) 142
AG -v- O’Connor (31 October 1988) Jersey Unreported
AG -v- Winning (14 April 1989) Jersey Unreported
AG -v- Hudson (15 May 1989) Jersey Unreported
AG -v- Picot (29 May 1990) Jersey Unreported
AG -v- Prisk (5 August 1988) Jersey Unreported
AG -v- Thomas (1 August 1997) Jersey Unreported