Róisín Finnegan is successful in the Court of Appeal

Róisín Finnegan successfully resisted an application by the Attorney General for leave to refer a sentence to the Court of Appeal which he regarded as unduly lenient.

Róisín appeared for the Offender in the Crown Court where following a Goodyear Indication, he entered a guilty plea for an offence of controlling and coercive behaviour.

The offending spanned a period of four years and consisted of two incidents of strangulation. It was placed within Category 1A on the Sentencing Council Guidelines, which prescribe a starting point of 2 years 6 months imprisonment and a range of 1-4 years imprisonment. The Offender received a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The Attorney General sought to challenge the sentence on grounds that a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment was unduly lenient, and that the offending was so serious that only a sentence of immediate custody was appropriate.

The Court of Appeal found that while the sentence was lenient, it was not unduly so, having regard to the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case. The aggravating feature was that some of the offending, including an incident of strangulation was carried out in the presence of children. Mitigating features included that the Offender was of good character, had desisted from offending and complied with bail, and had demonstrated remorse. The Court of Appeal also found that the judge was entitled to suspend the sentence, even though some may not have opted to do so with regard to the incidents of strangulation.

The chronology was important in this case. The last incident of behaviour was in May 2022, the Offender was originally arrested in relation to the allegations on 1 April 2023, and on 21 May 2023 the Crown decided not to take further action. He was then charged on 25 July 2024, over two years after the last incident of behaviour.

Crucial to the Court’s determination was the progress the Offender had made with the original suspended sentence order that had been imposed and the steps he had taken to appreciate the damage that had been caused to the victim.

Róisín was instructed by Vyman Solicitors.