R v Olgert Murataj
[2024] EWCA Crim 334
R v Nassir Andre David Mir
23 February 2024
[2024] EWCA Crim 239
Court of Appeal
A man was given a community order instead of jail time for selling drugs and breaking the law. The government appealed saying the punishment was too light. The court agreed, canceled the community order, and sent the man to prison for three years.
Key Facts
- •The offender, Nasir Andre David Mir, was sentenced to a three-year community order for two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and one count of breaching a Criminal Behaviour Order.
- •The offender had 11 previous convictions for 24 offences.
- •The offender was on licence for similar offending at the time of the index offences.
- •The Crown Court judge considered a custodial sentence of 36 months appropriate but imposed a community order due to mitigating factors and positive behavior reports.
- •The Attorney General referred the sentence as unduly lenient under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Legal Principles
Principles for unduly lenient sentence applications under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Attorney General's Reference (R v Azad) [2021] EWCA Crim 1846
The Court of Appeal's role is not to re-take the sentencing decision but to consider whether a sentence falls outside the reasonable range.
Attorney General's Reference No 4 of 1989
The Court of Appeal has discretion on whether to quash a sentence even if it is deemed unduly lenient.
Attorney General's Reference No 64 of 2011 (R v Crawford)
Sentencing guidelines must be followed unless it is contrary to the interests of justice.
Section 59(1) of the Sentencing Code
A sentencing court cannot circumvent statutory limitations on suspended sentences by imposing a community order.
R v Hartland [2023] EWCA Crim 790
The purpose of Attorney General's References is to avoid gross errors, alleviate public concern, and maintain public confidence in sentencing.
Attorney General's Reference (No 132 of 2001) (R v Johnson)
Outcomes
The Court of Appeal granted leave to refer the sentences.
The sentence was deemed unduly lenient.
The Court of Appeal quashed the community order.
The sentence was unduly lenient given the seriousness of the offences and aggravating factors. A custodial sentence was deemed appropriate.
The Court of Appeal imposed an immediate sentence of three years' imprisonment on each drugs offence, to run concurrently with a one-year sentence for the breach of the Criminal Behaviour Order (total sentence: three years).
This reflects the minimum appropriate custodial sentence given the circumstances.