Colin Witcher secures successful verdict at the Court of Appeal
Colin Witcher of Church Court Chambers’ Crime and Regulatory Team appeared in the Court of Appeal this week, successfully challenging a sentence imposed in respect to a Bail Act offence for a defendant who had fled the jurisdiction prior to the start of a highly sensitive trial.
The sentencing judge imposed, upon the defendant’s voluntary return to the UK, a consecutive term of six months imprisonment, having adopted a starting point of nine months in respect to the defendant’s failure to attend at trial.
The Court of Appeal accepted Colin’s submission that the starting point was simply too high. Colin argued that it was of note that the defendant had voluntarily returned to accept his fate, and that the trial had proceeded in his absence with only a short delay. The Court, however, recognised the distress that would have been caused to the victim of the index offences, as this was a particularly serious case and the defendant had deliberately chosen not to attend at trial.
The Court of Appeal quashed the sentence of six months imprisonment, and substituted it with a sentence of ten weeks imprisonment.
A conjoined appeal case in respect to the sentence imposed for the index offending was, whilst granting leave and allowing the appeal to be argued out of time, refused by the Court.
