s.224

A minimum term of five-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence was reduced to four-and-a-half years, because it was disproportionate to the five-year starting point for an actual single offence of rape.

Offences committed by a young offender contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 s.13 were not serious specified offences for the purposes of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

It was inappropriate to impose a sentence of imprisonment for public protection pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.225 on an offender convicted of making indecent photographs of children, because the link between the offending act of downloading images and the possible harm to children was too remote to satisfy the requirement that the offender’s reoffending would cause serious harm.

Sentences of four years’ imprisonment for sexual offences against a mentally disordered person were unduly lenient given the repeated nature of the offences. A total sentence of five and a half years was substituted which included a substantial discount for an unsatisfactory sentencing process.

The court considered and gave guidance on the principles applicable to the new mandatory sentencing provisions for the protection of the public from dangerous offenders contained in Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.224 to s.229 and the factors that judges should take into account when deciding whether one of the new sentences must be imposed.