Burney, R. v
2007
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE PILL
- MR JUSTICE CALVERT-SMITH
- MR JUSTICE LLOYD-JONES
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
2007
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involves the appellant Kevin Burney, who received a twelve-month prison sentence for encouraging his son Jamie, after drinking, to drive, resulting in a car accident, and then misleading the police about the driver. Jamie confessed to driving, and Kevin maintained the lie. The appeal questioned the sentence length and emphasized mitigating factors like good character and guilty plea. The court reduced the sentence to six months to reflect these factors while marking the offense's severity.
LORD JUSTICE PILL:
1. On 19 March 2007, in the Crown Court at Maidstone, the appellant Kevin Burney (43 years of age) pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. On 19 April 2007, he was sentenced by His Honour Judge Pitman to twelve months' imprisonment. He appeals against sentence by leave of the single judge.
2. The co-accused, Jamie Burney (23 years of age), who is the son of the appellant, also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to a term of eight months' imprisonment suspended for 18 months. There was a requirement that he do 120 hours' unpaid work.
3. The offence was committed on the evening of 3/4 September 2006. Jamie Burney drove the appellant to a public house near Faversham, Kent, which was not far from where they lived. They left at around midnight. Both had drunk substantial amounts of beer, the appellant more than his son. Jamie wanted to wait before driving the short distance to their home to allow the effects of the alcohol to pass, but the appellant told his son not to wait and encouraged him to drive.
4. The journey involved going on to the main A2 trunk road. The vehicle was driven slightly on to that road and was struck by a passing lorry. The car was badly damaged. The lorry driver stopped, whereupon Jamie apologised. The lorry driver reassured him, saying "Don't worry, there's no damage to my lorry, but your car is a mess, isn't it?" The appellant told Jamie not to apologise because the lorry driver was over the white line. There can be no suggestion but that Mr Fenton, the lorry driver, was travelling along the A2 trunk road in an entirely proper manner. Mr Fenton said that if there was a dispute about the cause of the accident he would call the police. At the encouragement of the appellant, Jamie and the appellant ran across the fields to their home which was not far away, abandoning the badly damaged car. The appellant told his son to say that he, the appellant, had been driving. His purpose in doing so was to protect his son from getting into any trouble as a result of the accident.
5. The police attended the scene at the request of the lorry driver shortly afterwards. They were rapidly able to trace the appellant and Jamie from the number plate of the car. They arrived at their home at about 2am. The appellant said that he was the driver and offered a roadside breath test. He provided a breath specimen with a reading twice over the legal limit. The lorry driver had told the pol