Palmer & Ors v R
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LADY JUSTICE HALLETT, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CACD
- MR JUSTICE ANDREW SMITH
- HIS HONOUR JUDGE ZEIDMAN QC
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Three young men involved in a police operation called Operation Gemini were convicted of selling stolen property. Their appeal claims of entrapment, issues with disclosure, and the relevance of fresh evidence from a former undercover officer were rejected by the Court of Appeal.
JUDGMENT
Lady Justice Hallett DBE Vice President of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division:
Introduction
These three appeals have been heard together because they each stem from the same police operation and because the same three issues arise: disclosure, entrapment and what is said to be fresh evidence from a former undercover police officer.
All three appellants were young unemployed men who lived in North West London. They each sold stolen property to a shop set up and run by undercover police officers. When their attempts to stay proceedings against them failed, they each pleaded guilty to a variety of offences of dishonesty.
On 23 April 2013 His Honour Judge Pawlak sentenced them as follows: for two offences of possession of identity documents with improper intent and one offence of supplying an article for use in fraud Palmer received a total sentence of 32 months imprisonment. For one offence of possession of identity documents with improper intent, supplying an article used in fraud, two offences of handling stolen property and an offence of burglary, Cooke received a total sentence of 27 months imprisonment ordered to run consecutively to an existing sentence. For two offences of possession of identity documents with improper intent and one of supplying articles for fraud, Gyamfi was imprisoned for 9 months ordered to run consecutively to an existing sentence.
Palmer and Cooke apply for leave to appeal against conviction and Gyamfi applies for an extension of time (32 days) in which to apply for leave to appeal against conviction. The Registrar has referred all the applications to the Full Court. We grant the extension of time.
Operation Gemini
The offences stem from a police operation known as Operation Gemini. Parts of the London Borough of Barnet have suffered for many years from a high level of residential burglaries. The number of offences rose year by year so that by 2011- 2012, one in every 40 homes had been burgled. As those who have been the victim of a burglary can testify, residential burglary is a crime which can have devastating and long term consequences for the householder. Hence the present emphasis in sentencing practice upon the harm caused to victims by the burglar and the handler of property stolen in a burglary. Conscious of the financial and emotional impact of burglary upon the citizens they served, senior Metropolitan Police officers decided to try to reverse the trend. Conventional methods had not worked and accord