R v Alfie Ferguson & Ors
[2023] EWCA Crim 1569
R v Mohammed Fathi & Ors
11 October 2024
[2024] EWCA Crim 1434
Court of Appeal
Four people were convicted of trying to burgle a house and attacking the people inside. The government thought their sentences were too short, but the Court of Appeal disagreed. The judge who gave the original sentences had considered all the facts, including the age and backgrounds of the criminals, and the Court of Appeal said she made the right decision.
Key Facts
- •Four offenders (Fathi, Ruscoe, Clegg, Hurst) convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.
- •Offence involved traveling from Manchester to Essex, attempting to enter a home, assaulting the occupants.
- •Offenders used pepper spray, knives, and a meat cleaver.
- •No entry was gained into the property.
- •Offenders apprehended on the M6 motorway.
- •Fathi, Hurst received nine-year sentences; Ruscoe, Clegg received seven and a half-year sentences (Clegg's should have been YOI detention).
- •Solicitor General referred sentences as unduly lenient under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Legal Principles
Section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 allows the Attorney General to refer sentences deemed unduly lenient.
Criminal Justice Act 1988
Part 41 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 governs applications for permission to refer sentencing cases, requiring grounds to be clearly stated in the initial application.
Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (SI 2020/759)
Sentencing is an exercise of evaluative judgment, balancing culpability, harm, and mitigating factors. Simply adding harm factors doesn't automatically increase the starting point.
Sentencing Council guideline (implied)
Youth, immaturity, and personal mitigation can significantly outweigh aggravating factors such as previous convictions, particularly when those convictions occurred during childhood or were of a different nature.
Case law (implied)
A finding of dangerousness requires a significant risk of serious harm, supported by evidence of entrenched offending patterns; a single incident, even a serious one, may not suffice.
Case law (implied)
Outcomes
Application for leave to refer sentences as unduly lenient refused.
The grounds raised by the Solicitor General (regarding starting points, weight given to mitigation, and the dangerousness finding) were either procedurally flawed (raised too late), lacked arguable merit, or were already appropriately considered by the sentencing judge.
Clegg's sentence corrected to detention in a young offender institution.
Clegg was just under 21 at sentencing, requiring a young offender institution sentence.