R v Nathan Thomas Smith
[2023] EWCA Crim 1173
Richard Lee Norris v R
6 February 2024
[2024] EWCA Crim 68
Court of Appeal
A man was sentenced to 27 years in prison for stabbing a sleeping man to death. He appealed, arguing the judge considered too many things that made his crime worse. The court agreed about one thing the judge considered, but still said the sentence was fair because many other factors showed how serious his crime was.
Key Facts
- •Richard Lee Norris (Appellant) was convicted of murder on June 16, 2023, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years.
- •The murder victim, Marcus Tott, was asleep in his bed when stabbed by the Appellant.
- •The Appellant had 53 previous convictions for 184 offences, including several for assault and possession of bladed articles.
- •The Appellant took a knife from another's home to the scene of the murder and disposed of it afterwards.
- •The Appellant initially blamed another individual for the murder.
- •The appeal focused solely on whether the aggravating factors used to increase the sentence were insubstantial.
Legal Principles
Schedule 21 to the Sentencing Act 2020 provides a non-exhaustive list of aggravating and mitigating factors in murder cases.
Sentencing Act 2020, Schedule 21
Judges can consider aggravating and mitigating factors not specifically mentioned in Schedule 21 if relevant to the seriousness of the offence.
R v Last [2005] EWCA Crim 106
Lying about another's involvement should not be treated as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
R v Lowndes [2014] 1 Cr App R (s) 75
The Sentencing Council’s General guideline states that hindering an investigation or wrongly blaming others can aggravate an offence.
Sentencing Council’s ‘General guideline: overarching approach’
Committing a crime in the victim's home is a relevant factor in assessing culpability, even if not explicitly listed as an aggravating factor.
R v Reeves [2023] EWCA Crim 384
The assessment of aggravating and mitigating factors is a question of judgment, not a mechanistic exercise.
R v Jones [2005] EWCA Crim 3115
Outcomes
The appeal was dismissed.
While the Judge should not have considered the Appellant's attempt to blame another as an aggravating factor, the remaining aggravating factors (previous convictions, disposing of the knife, location of the crime, victim being asleep) justified the increased sentence. The mitigating factors were deemed insubstantial.