John, R. v
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE McCOMBE
- MR JUSTICE SUPPERSTONE
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appellant was convicted for a series of high-value thefts and had a confiscation order imposed under POCA. Upon discovering new assets, including damages from a car accident, the prosecution sought a recalculation of the confiscation amount. The court held that while general damages from the accident could be included in the revised order, special damages could not, as they were specifically earmarked for expenses incurred due to the accident. The appellant's confiscation order was reduced to reflect this distinction.
J U D G M E N T (As approved)
1. MR JUSTICE SUPPERSTONE: On 30th June 2006, in the Crown Court at Newport, the appellant was convicted of conspiracy to steal. The conspiracy covers six incidents: first, theft of a Land Rover Defender (valued at £7,000) on 21st October 2003; second, theft of a Land Rover Discovery (valued at £28,000) on 20th October 2004; third, an attempted theft and theft of a mini-digger, trailer and other property (valued at £30,000) on or around 31st July 2005; fourth, theft of a quad motorcycle (valued at £4,000) on 13th August 2005; fifth, theft of two trailers and a winch (valued at £6,000) between 7th April 2004 and 9th September 2005; sixth, attempted theft of mini-diggers (valued at £45,000) on or about 4th December 2005. The total value of the property stolen in furtherance of the conspiracy was estimated by the Crown at £71,000.
2. On 21st July 2006 the appellant was sentenced by His Honour Judge Llewellyn-Jones QC to 21 months' imprisonment. On 8th January 2007 the same judge imposed a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (known as "POCA") in the sum of £7,200, with 28 days to pay and six months' additional imprisonment in default consecutive to the sentence imposed. In the course of the confiscation proceedings the judge found that the appellant had benefited from his offending to the extent of £200,000. The amount of the confiscation order was determined by the available realisable assets at the time of the order.
3. On 2nd January 2014 His Honour Judge Bidder QC, sitting in the Crown Court at Cardiff, considered an application by the prosecution for a reconsideration of the amount available for a revised confiscation order pursuant to section 22 of POCA and imposed a confiscation order in the sum of £36,389.44 to be paid, of which £7,200 had been paid. The order was to be satisfied within two months with a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment in default.
4. The appellant appeals against the confiscation order imposed by His Honour Judge Bidder by leave of the single judge.
5. The appellant was born on 21st January 1979. At the time of his offending he was between 24 and 26 years old. He served his sentence and was released from prison in about May 2007.
6. On 13th February 2009 the appellant was a passenger in a Transit van involved in a road traffic collision. As a result of the collision he suffered total loss of the vehicle in which he was being carried. On 16th April 2009 he was paid a sum