Court of appeal reduces sentence for former nursery worker      

The Court of Appeal has quashed a sentence of immediate imprisonment of 3.5 years and substituted a suspended sentence of 18 months.

The Appellant, LL, was a nursery worker. She was convicted after trial of an offence of child cruelty. The facts of the offence were that she and three other nursery workers sprayed water on a child in 2022, in response to the child’s challenging behaviour. The Appellant had also ripped up a drawing. The trial judge imposed a sentence of immediate imprisonment on the Appellant, who was the only defendant who fought the case to trial. The remaining defendants were given suspended sentences.

Following this morning’s hearing, which was listed one week after the grant of permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal accepted that the judge had overstated the seriousness of the offence and allowed the appeal. As a result, the Appellant was released today.

In R v LL, Kate O'Raghallaigh was instructed by Amy Cox and Annie Loh of Sonn Macmillan Walker.