The defendant received an 11-year aggregate sentence for a “brutal” kidnap and Class A drugs conspiracy. The Solicitor General, represented by Senior Treasury King’s Counsel, argued this was unduly lenient, specifically targeting the judge’s reduction of the consecutive drugs sentence from a 7-year starting point down to 2 years to reflect totality.
Greg Unwin argued that rather than focus on mechanics of the totality reduction the court should evaluate the justice and proportionality of the aggregate sentence. It was a severe punishment for a young, first-time offender with significant personal mitigation, and not unduly lenient within the meaning of the authorities.
The Court of Appeal agreed, finding that while the reduction to the drugs sentence for totality was “very substantial”, the overall 11-year sentence was not unduly lenient, noting the requirement in section 231(2) of the Sentencing Act 2020 that a custodial sentence