Attorney General's Reference (No. 42 of 2003)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 15 October 2003 |
| Date | 15 October 2003 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
COURT OF APPEAL Criminal Division
Before Lord Justice Kay, Mr Justice Poole and Mr Justice Treacy
Criminal sentencing - sentencing of paedophiles
Where a man considerably older than a teenager made contact with young girls via the internet, leading to sexual offences against those girls, sentences would be to the top end of the range.
There was no policy reason to prevent a court from sentencing more severely on an indecent assault charge, which had a maximum prison term of ten years than on an under-age sexual intercourse charge with its maximum term of two years.
The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, so held when finding a sentence, referred to them by the Attorney-General under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, to be unduly lenient.
On June 2, 2003 at Norwich Crown Court, before Judge Curl, Michael Anthony Wheeler was sentenced following his guilty pleas in respect of:
(i) victim K, to 15 months imprisonment for each of three offences of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl aged 13 to 16 contrary to section 6(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, all concurrent and three months also concurrent for each of three offences of indecent assault, contrary to section 14(1) of the 1956 Act, consecutive to the 15 months; and (ii) victim C, to 15 months imprisonment each for two offences of unlawful sexual intercourse with an under-age girl, all concurrent, and three months for each of three offences of indecent assault, all concurrent, and consecutive to the 15 months.
The total sentences in respect of both victims were ordered to run consecutively, totalling three years imprisonment, in addition to an extension of two years under licence pursuant to section 85 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2001.
The Court of Appeal extended the jail sentence to 4 years and the extended licence period to 2 years, making a total of seven years.
Mr David Perry and Ms Melanie Cumberland for the Attorney-General; Mr Karim Khalil, QC, assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, for the defendant.
LORD JUSTICE KAY, delivering the judgment of the court, said that Wheeler befriended the first victim, K, via an internet chat room when she was aged 11. He had claimed to be 19 when he was in fact 32.
When he met K it was apparent that she was significantly younger than 16, as she had claimed. He began grooming her and just after her thirteenth birthday initiated sexual contact with...
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