Anderson. R. v
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE ELIAS
- MR JUSTICE JEREMY BAKER
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Civil Procedure
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Ian Anderson, having a history of theft, was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment but appealed on the basis that the sentence was excessive. Issues with the committal process and the handling of a suspended sentence breach rendered the sentences unlawful. The Court of Appeal revised the sentence to 18 months and quashed the victim surcharge order.
J U D G M E N T
1. MR JUSTICE JEREMY BAKER : Ian Anderson is 44 years of age. On 6th September 2013 he appeared at South Worcestershire Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty to two offences of theft, one offence of going equipped to steal and one offence of obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty. These offences had been committed during the operational period of a suspended sentence order which had been imposed at the Worcester Crown Court on 13th July 2012. Therefore the magistrates committed him to that court for sentence.
2. He appeared at Worcester Crown Court on 4th October 2013, where he admitted and asked to be taken into account 10 other offences of theft. He was sentenced to a total period of 30 months' imprisonment. This comprised concurrent sentences of 30 months' custody on the two theft offences, 24 months on the going equipped offences and no separate penalty on the obstruction offence. No action was taken on the breach of the suspended sentence and a victim surcharge order of £120 was imposed.
3. He applied for leave to appeal against sentence on the basis that it was manifestly excessive. That application has been referred to the Full Court by the Registrar as a result of concerns about the lawfulness of the sentences. It is because of those concerns that we grant leave.
4. Before dealing with those concerns it is to be noted that the offences of theft, of which he was both convicted and admitted on a schedule of other offences were all ones involving shoplifting committed over a period of 5 months, between May and September 2013. The total value of the goods stolen was almost £6,500. These were professionally executed offences, carried out with the assistance of a tag remover which was the subject matter of the offence of going equipped. When the appellant was arrested he gave a false name to the police.
5. The appellant has a lifelong record of committing similar and other more serious offences. He commenced committing offences of shoplifting at the age of 18 and since then has no less than 40 separate sets of convictions for such offences. He has received sentences of immediate imprisonment in the past and the suspended sentence, of which he was in breach, comprised a sentence of 12 months custody suspended for an operational period of 24 months, together with 150 hours of unpaid work and a supervision requirement. This was for an offence of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of criminal ju