Court of Appeal quashes sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection passed in 2008
On 9 May 2024, the Court of Appeal granted a 15-year extension of time and quashed a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (“IPP”). Hayley Douglas appeared for the appellant who was sentenced to the IPP in June 2008 for an offence of s.18 GBH committed when he was 19 years old.
On appeal it was argued that the appellant was not dangerous and the sentence should never have been imposed. In particular, it was argued that the sentencing judge failed to take into account the appellant’s young age at the time of both the index offence and previous specified offence. It was also argued that the judge was wrong to derive a pattern of behaviour from the appellant’s previous offence. The Court of Appeal agreed, quashing the indeterminate sentence and replacing it with a short determinate term which resulted in the appellant’s immediate release.
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