Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2009]JRC224

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

20^th November 2009

The Attorney General

-v-

Luke Clint Cox

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following guilty pleas to the following charges:

Age:  22.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

Fraud offences

The defendant was employed by Day2DayShop.com and his duties included taking orders over the telephone and processing credit card payments.  In early May the Capital One Fraud Investigation Department identified three transactions made in Jersey on 28^th and 30^th April, 2009, by the defendant, using credit card details he had acquired at work (Counts 1-3).  The fraud was reported to Day2DayShop.com and he was suspended.  On 5^th May, 2009, he went to Police headquarters and said that he wanted to confess to fraud.  He was arrested and interviewed.  He made full confessions during interview, admitting to making authorised transactions to a total value of £99.35. 

Breaking and entry related offences

Between 23^rd May, 2009 and 5^th June, 2009, the defendant committed a string of larceny and related offences.  Count 4; on the evening of Saturday 23^rd May, 2009 the owner of Rosedale Stores, Gorey Village, locked up the shop.  On Monday 25^th May, 2009, a regular customer noticed the door was open and contacted the owner.  Milk crates on the doorstep had been pushed aside and the door forced open.  Between 30 and 40 packets of cigarettes were missing along with two charity boxes and an unknown number of bottles of alcohol. 

Counts 5 and 10; on Tuesday 26^th or Wednesday 27^th May, 2009, the defendant broke into the garage forecourt shop at Marks and Spencer, St Peter.  The till was forced open and the float stolen, along with cigarettes, lighters, tobacco, stamps, shop equipment and a charity box.  A fire extinguisher was discharged over the shop, and a fax machine was broken.  Counts 6, 7, 8 and 9; on Wednesday 27^th May, 2009, the defendant illegally entered the garage of 83 Miladi Farm and stole a Gilera motorcycle.  In the top box of the motorcycle were a helmet, Oakley goggles and a pair of gloves valued at £160.  He then drove the motorcycle on roads in the Island despite not having either a driving licence or insurance.

Counts 11 and 12; on Thursday 28^th May or Friday 29^th May, 2009, the defendant broke into Three Oaks Garage.  The door and one of the windows was broken, as was an internal door.  £30 was stolen.  Two cars in the workshop were entered and from one of them three SD cards, a camera, binoculars and a pair of designer spectacles (total value approximately £400) were stolen.  The glasses and binoculars (valued at £245) were later recovered from Cox's accommodation.

Count 13: on Sunday 31^st May or Monday 1^st June, 2009 the defendant attempted to break into Colleen's Café at Greve de Lecq.  One of the glass door panels of the side door was smashed.  Count 14; between Tuesday 2^nd and Wednesday 3^rd June, 2009 he broke and entered the Café de Gourey in St Martin and stole a number of cartons of Ribena.  The café was entered by smashing a window at the back of the premises.  Count 15; the following night the defendant attempted to break into the Green Island Restaurant.  A small window had been opened and damage caused to a menu board and two lights.

Count 16; on the night of Thursday 4^th June or morning of Friday 5^th June, 2009, the defendant attempted to break and enter De La Mare Florist.  He was seen in the act by a sixteen year old boy walking home, who called his mother.  The boy's mother drove to collect him and they both witnessed the defendant driving away on the stolen Gilera moped.  A red crow bar was found at the scene and the moped was later found abandoned nearby along with a helmet, gloves, a balaclava and tool box.  The crow bar was forensically tested and the paint was found to match the traces of paint found at previous scenes.  DNA belonging to the defendant was found on the crow bar and balaclava.

The defendant's address was searched and items from the car at Three Oaks Garage were recovered, along with stamps from Marks and Spencer and the helmet and goggles from Miladi Farm.  He admitted to possession of the items, but said that all but the spectacles were bought from an unknown man at Havre des Pas who had them in his car boot.  He denied ever having been to Green Island Restaurant, and could not account for the presence of his fingerprints at the scene.  He also denied stealing the motorcycle and answered "no comment" to questions concerning his DNA on the balaclava or on the crowbar.

On 8^th July, 2009, the defendant was arrested on an unrelated matter, and was found in possession of a small amount of cannabis and a further small amount was found in his accommodation.  He fully admitted possession of the cannabis.  On 11^th May, 2009, the defendant appeared before the Magistrate charged with two counts of driving without insurance, two counts of driving whilst disqualified, one count of failing to stop and report an accident, one count of failing to report a vehicle colour change to DVS and one count of failing to report a change of address to DVS.  He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and disqualified from driving for six months.  The offence of possession of cannabis places him in breach of this order.  He had completed 15 hours prior to his arrest.

Details of Mitigation:

Youth, guilty pleas.

Previous Convictions:

Extensive record.  18 convictions for 90 offences.  These include 28 larceny and related offences and 12 offences against property.

Conclusions:

Total:  28 months' imprisonment and 24 months' disqualification from driving.

Breach of Community Service Order imposed by the Magistrate's Court on 8^th June, 2009:-discharge order and impose no alternative penalty.

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs sought.

No order for compensation sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Total:  18 months' imprisonment plus 12 months' disqualification from driving.

Breach of Community Service Order imposed by the Magistrate's Court on 8^th June, 2009:-discharge order and impose no alternative penalty.

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs ordered.

R. C. P. Pedley, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate C. L. Nicolle for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        Mr Cox, you have pleaded guilty on an Indictment containing 3 counts of credit card fraud totalling approximately £100, 9 counts of breaking and entering or illegal entry and larceny or attempts to do the same, 3 driving offences, 1 count of attempted larceny, 1 count of malicious damage and possession of a personal amount of cannabis.  As a result of that last charge you also fall to be sentenced again for breach of the Community Service Order which was imposed by the Magistrate's Court in June this year.

2.        Counts 1-3 involving the credit card frauds give rise to the fact that it has been said many times in this Court that offences of this kind involving breaches of trust to your employer require a custodial sentence unless there are exceptional circumstances.  The amount is small but the Court does not find there are any exceptional circumstances here and that therefore, has led the Court to considering that a custodial sentence is appropriate.  It is compounded by the fact that you fall to be sentenced for a series of breaking and entering charges in relation to private property and that breaking and entering took place at night and again the usual rule, absent any exceptional circumstances, is that one would expect to see a custodial sentence imposed.

3.        It is a great pity that you have lapsed into re-offending.  You have a poor record of criminal offences committed up to 2006 and you should have been aware of the need to avoid going down that path again and the Court is certainly, to some extent, encouraged by what your Counsel has said, that you realise that that is so and that it is something to avoid in the future.  I can tell you that if you did not know it already, the community is not going to stand by and let you continue in this way of offending, its patience will inevitably run out. 

4.        The Crown has called for sentences totalling 2 years and 4 months' imprisonment plus 2 years' disqualification from driving.  The Court considers that approach to be eminently justifiable in principle, in the light of the offences you have committed and the record which you have.  However, we have taken account of your youth and your guilty plea, your ready co-operation with the police in relation to the fraud charges and indeed, everything which your counsel has said on your behalf this morning.  In those circumstances the Court thinks it is right to reduce the conclusions.  There must be a custodial sentence in the Court's view, but the total which the Court is minded to impose is 18 months' imprisonment in total and it imposes that sentence having regard, as I say, to the totality principle and as an act of mercy, in the hope that this will encourage you to reform your ways in the future.  The Court also notes that probation care is available while you serve your prison sentence and the Court expresses the hope that you will take advantage of that offer while you are in prison.

5.        In the circumstances you are sentenced to 2 months' imprisonment on Counts 1, 2 and 3; 18 months' imprisonment on Counts 4, 5, and 6; 1 month's imprisonment on Count 10; 18 months' imprisonment on Count 11; 6 months' imprisonment on Count 12; 12 months' imprisonment on Count 13; 18 months' imprisonment on Count 14; 12 months' imprisonment on Counts 15 and 16.  In relation to Counts 7, 8 and 9 you are sentenced to 2 months', 2 weeks' and 2 months' imprisonment, all those sentences are to be served concurrently, making a total of 18 months' imprisonment.  There will be no separate penalty for Count 17 and therefore the formal order there, is an absolute discharge. 

6.        In addition you are to be disqualified in relation to the driving offences.  The Court would like to emphasise that driving without insurance is in particular an offence which is to be treated seriously.  If you were to have an accident and injure somebody it would be bad enough if you were insured but it is much worse if there is then no ability for compensation to be claimed against you.  Driving without insurance is a serious offence.  In the circumstances you will be disqualified from driving, but we are going to reduce the disqualifications sought by the Crown to a period of 12 months' disqualification taking account of your youth.

7.        The Community Service Order imposed by the Magistrate's Court will be discharged.

8.        We order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Authorities

Whelan on Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Court of Jersey.