With the Crown Courts being overrun with trials and other matters, cases that would normally be referred there for sentencing purposes are now being kept in the Magistrates Court, on a regular basis.
One might think that to be sentenced in the Magistrates Court would be better in certain circumstances because the Magistrates Court have lesser sentencing powers.
However, for cases which in the Crown Court would be considered to be, at the lower end of the offending scale, generally, the offences may be considered by the Magistrates to be towards the higher end of the scale if the sentence is retained in the Magistrates Court. Generally, when a Defendant is faced with being sentenced in the Crown Court, he will be faced with a Crown Court Judge who is used to sentencing such matters, gives for credence to any positive work that the Defendant has done such as therapeutic work and of course listens to what the Probation Service has to say in relation to potential sentences. The Magistrates may not be so familiar with sentencing such cases and therefore the sentences can be comparatively harsher in the Magistrates Court.
Bear in mind that the maximum sentence that a Magistrate can pass in relation to any particular matter is 6 months of immediate imprisonment.
Therefore, even with a guilty plea, a Defendant may find himself going immediately to prison, following sentencing in the Magistrates Court where that may not be the case in the Crown Court.
We have experienced this, first-hand, in recent cases.
A client of ours was sentenced to a term of immediate imprisonment for an offence of “outraging public decency”.
We had to work expeditiously firstly, to lodge an appeal for what we considered to be an excessive sentence and then to get the matter before the Crown Court as an expedited appeal against sentence.
However, because of how busy the Crown Court is, this didn’t happen for some time but eventually, having served some time in prison, he was released, initially on bail pending appeal then as a result of the successful appeal, under “time served”.
Should you be facing a potential sentencing hearing in the Magistrates Court and feel that you could be in danger of being given an immediate custodial sentence, we may be able to help.
Contact our Criminal Defence Lawyers
Indeed, if one of your friends or loved ones has recently been sentenced to a term of immediate imprisonment and you believe this is excessive and want a second opinion and/or to appeal the sentence in the Crown Court, please get in touch with us as a matter of urgency. We can be contacted at stuart@ssdll.co.uk or sarah@ssdll.co.uk, or on 07798 753 720 or 07592 157 957 or go onto Live Chat to speak to one of our colleagues.
