We are pleased to report a successful sentence appeal at the Court of Appeal on behalf of our client who was convicted of possession with intent to supply a Class A drug (cocaine).
At first instance, the sentencing judge adopted a starting point of 15 years to reflect the quantity of drugs involved — just over 17 kilograms — before applying full credit for our client’s early guilty plea, resulting in a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. After the single judge granted leave to appeal, we argued before the Court of Appeal that the sentence was manifestly excessive, including on the basis that no proper allowance had been made for our client’s personal mitigation: he had no relevant or recent convictions for drug offences, was a carer for a young child with a disability requiring specialist support, had shown genuine remorse, and had made significant progress while in custody, including training and working as a Samaritans-supported Listener supporting fellow prisoners.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the sentencing judge had not given a sufficient discount for that personal mitigation, and reduced the sentence from 10 years to 9 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
It is always difficult to challenge drug supply sentences at the Court of Appeal given the public policy approach adopted by the court, and we are therefore very pleased for our client, who will now be able to be released sooner and reunited with his family. The team for this case was led by senior partner Mark Bowen, with Fiona Clegg of Mountford Chambers instructed as counsel.