Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2011]JRC087

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

19^th April 2011

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:

In the early hours of Wednesday 1^st September, 2010, a police mobile patrol saw a Piaggio moped driving down Mont Millais with a rider and passenger.  The moped had obvious damage to its fairing and the officers followed it to the Le Dicq slip where it stopped by the White Horse pub.  They spoke to the driver, who gave a false name before admitting he was the defendant and that he had borrowed the moped from another man. 

There were no keys in the ignition of the vehicle and underneath the fairing it could be seen that it had been "hot wired".  Cox was a disqualified driver and at the time the primary period of disqualification had a little under three months left to run.  When interviewed Cos said that his motivation for using the moped had been that he wanted to see his girlfriend, who was the passenger.  He had not considered the fact that he was disqualified before driving, and had no insurance.  He conceded that he was driving without either. 

Second set of road traffic offences (Counts 3 to 5.

On the evening of Friday 3^rd September, 2010, Marek Jurczyk parked his black Aprilia moped in Green Street car park for the weekend.  Shortly before six o'clock the following Sunday, officers saw this moped being driven up to Snow Hill car park, where it was stopped.  The driver, Jamie Edwards, seemed unfamiliar with the bike, which had been hot wired.  It was later confirmed that the bike had been borrowed from Cox.  Officers went to the Seacroft Guest House, where the defendant was occupying a room, and arrested him.  While doing so found suspected stolen items and controlled substances (see below).  Mr Jurczyk went to the Police station and confirmed it was his bike, but that since he left it in the car park on Friday the ignition had been broken and the bike sprayed silver. 

Illegal entry (Count 9)

The owner of a St Helier shop returned home from work on Friday 3^rd September, 2010, with the day's takings of approximately £600 in cash.  That night the hallway and garage doors were shut but not locked.  The following morning her handbag was recovered from the gents toilets at La Rocque by a member of the public, together with various credit cards and her driving licence.  She was contacted by the Police and only then realised that her handbag was missing from the dining room table along with the shop takings and a number of debit and credit cards in her name. 

Illegal entry (Count 10)

That same night, Friday 3^rd September, the owners of a St Peter property went to bed at 21:30 hours, leaving the garage door shut but not locked.  A Dell laptop was in the lounge as well as a briefcase containing a wallet with a number of credit cards, along with a mobile telephone.  The following morning, the garage door was found wedged open, drawers pulled open and that all of the property mentioned above was missing. 

Fraud

Information was received from the banks associated with the stolen credit cards from the first illegal entry indicating that these cards had been used to purchase items online.  In total transactions worth £309.99 were attempted or carried out between 02:29 and 07:48 in the early hours of the following day. 

During a search of his room, a large number of electrical items were recovered, including a Dell laptop identified as stolen from the St Peter property (Count 10) and the original ignition barrel from the stolen motorbike (Count 3).  In addition a personal quantity of cannabis (762mg, Count 6) and Nitrazepam (14 tablets, Count 7) were found.  Items of property were also located and identified as having come from the St Clement property.  Also recovered were various tools including chisels and a torch with the lens taped so that only a small beam of light would be emitted. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea; support of girlfriend, need for "light at the end of the tunnel". 

Previous Convictions:

Dreadful record; nineteen previous convictions, encompassing 108 offences.  His most recent convictions in 2009 were for fraud and a series of break and entries.  Had only been released six weeks before these offences began. 

Conclusions:

Total:  4 years' imprisonment plus 3 years' disqualification from driving. 

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs sought. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Total: 3 years' imprisonment, plus 3 years' disqualification from driving. 

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs ordered. 

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

Advocate S. A. Pearmain for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE commissioner:

1.        This defendant is to be sentenced for numerous offences involving dishonesty, including two serious offences of breaking into private dwelling houses at night and the use thereafter of the stolen credit and debit cards.  Valuable property was dishonestly obtained.  Housebreaking, particularly at night time, is an offence which invariably causes great distress to householders by reason of the invasion of privacy and custodial sentences are almost always imposed. 

2.        Cox has a very bad criminal record involving many previous convictions for offences of dishonesty.  He was released from prison after an 18 month sentence and was at liberty only for 6 weeks before the offending recommenced. 

3.        The conclusions of the Crown Advocate are entirely justified and the Court has given long consideration as to whether they should be granted.  We note that the last sentence was for 18 months and we have had regard to what Professor Thomas calls the "jump effect", that is the undesirability of increasing sentences too rapidly.  Your Counsel has told us of the courses that you have completed in the prison and it seems to us that if you want to achieve something in your life you could do so.  We are going to make the sentences concurrent because we want to give you some light at the end of the tunnel; we have to punish you but we hope that you will make something of your life when you come out of prison having served your sentence. 

4.        The conclusions are therefore varied so that all the sentences will run concurrently.  You are sentenced to a total of 3 years' imprisonment and you are disqualified from holding a driving license for a period of 3 years.  We hope we will not see you again. 

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

Authorities

Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956.

Motor Traffic (Third Party Insurance)(Jersey) Law 1948.

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

AG-v-Bailey [2009] JRC 077.

AG-v-McCallum [2008] JRC 119.

AG-v-O'Shea [2007] JRC 076.

AG-v-Wakeling [2007] JRC 166.

AG-v-Cox [2009] JRC 224.