Court of Appeal allows appeal against sentence

Farrhat Arshad KC was assigned by the Registrar as fresh counsel to represent the applicant, SSJ, after he applied unrepresented for leave to appeal against his sentence. Following guilty pleas to a series of sexual offences, he had been sentenced to consecutive extended sentences expressed as an 18 year extended sentence. The Court of Appeal accepted Farrhat’s argument that the sentence handed down and recorded by the warrants of imprisonment was not the sentence the judge had intended to impose and was in fact unlawful. The Court also accepted Farrhat’s argument that the way the sentence had been pronounced in Court made a material difference to the length of time the applicant would have to serve before he was eligible for release. The sentence was quashed and replaced with a reduced sentence.