Director of Public Prosecution's Reference (Number 6 of 2019) - Ian David Price
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Stephens LJ |
| Judgment Date | 05 February 2020 |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] NICA 8 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
| Date | 05 February 2020 |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2020] NICA 8
Ref:
STE11178
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
05/02/2020
(subject to editorial corrections)*
IN HER MAJESTY’S COURT OF APPEAL IN NORTHERN IRELAND
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DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION'S REFERENCE (Number 6 of 2019)
IAN DAVID PRICE
__________
Before: Morgan LCJ, Stephens LJ and McAlinden J
________
Stephens LJ (delivering the judgment of the court)
Introduction
[1] Ian David Price (“the offender”) eventually pleaded guilty (a) to three
firearms offences together with an offence in relation to a machete and (b) to three
drug offences. The offender had served approximately 7 months in prison on
remand awaiting trial. He appeared for sentencing before HHJ Ramsey QC (“the
Judge”) at Dungannon Crown Court on 15 November 2019. The judge deferred
sentence for 6 months stating that if he was told at the end of that period that the
offender had turned his life around without coming to police attention, continuing
with counselling and having made efforts to come to terms with his various
addictions that the sentence which would be imposed would not involve a return to
prison. The Director of Public Prosecutions sought leave to refer the deferral of
sentence to the Court of Appeal pursuant to Section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act
1988 on the grounds that it was unduly lenient. On 4 February 2020 at the hearing of
the reference we granted leave and the application proceeded on that date.
Ms Walsh appeared for the Director and Mr Weir QC with Mr Campbell for the
offender.
The guns, the ammunition and the machete
[2] Two guns were found but the firearms offences solely related to one of them.
The firearms offences also related to four rounds of ammunition.
[3] The guns and the machete which were found were:
(a) A revolver. A German manufactured .380”/9mmk blank calibre “ME38
Compact” revolver (“the revolver”). It was in fair condition. It contains a
series of chambers which revolve when it is fired. The barrel was partially
blocked by a partial obstruction which ran along its length. The partial
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blockage of the barrel allowed gases produced on firing to be vented forward
through the muzzle so that in addition to firing blank cartridges it could be
used for primarily defensive purposes if loaded with blank cartridges
containing CS, OC, mace or other noxious substances. The revolver was not
designed for firing “live” rounds but if of an appropriate size they could be
loaded into the chamber of the revolver and if fired the bullet would cause
significant damage to the revolver. It is not a lethal weapon but it is a
prohibited weapon and a firearm as defined by the Firearms
(Northern Ireland) Order 2004 (“the 2004 Order”).
(b) An air pistol. A black coloured 6mm plastic BB calibre soft air pistol (“the air
pistol”). It was designed to resemble a ‘Beretta model 92’ type pistol and was
the type of air gun where gas was held in a reservoir in the magazine which
provided compressed gas to fire a projectile. The pistol was in good condition
and was successfully test fired. It was an air gun which fired a projectile with
a kinetic energy less than one joule. On that basis it is not required to be held
on a firearm certificate as specified by Schedule 1 to the 2004 Order. The
offender was interviewed in relation to the air pistol but he was not charged
with any offence in relation to it.
(c) The ammunition. This consisted of 4 9x19mm calibre cartridges. Three of the
cartridges had lead bullets and appeared to be reloaded/home loaded. The
fourth cartridge had a full metal jacketed bullet and was produced in 1974 by
Radway Green, UK, for military use. The ammunition whilst it could be
partially fitted into the chambers of the revolver were too long so that the
cartridges could not be positioned so as to be fired.
(d) The machete. The machete was found by Constable McSherry who described it
as “a large black machete knife approximately 2ft long with a wrapped type
handle.” He handed it to Constable Fitzsimons who described it as “a large
green handled knife with a black blade.” It was a lethal deadly weapon.
Background including the circumstances of the offending
[4] The offender came to the attention of the police as a result of events which
occurred on 25 June 2017 in the vicinity of Fort Park and Fort Terrace, Bangor,
Co Down.
[5] At about 1am on that date the offender with a female, Julie Apsley and
another male arrived at the home of Natasha Hogsett. Ms Hogsett’s partner,
Colin Horner, had been murdered four weeks previously and he had been a friend
of the offender. Ms Hogsett invited the offender over for a drink as he had missed
his friend’s funeral having been in custody on other matters at the time. Ms Apsley
was extremely argumentative and disruptive. Both she and Ms Hogsett were
intoxicated. The offender was also intoxicated. There were in addition some five
other people in Ms Hogsett’s home joining with her in commemoration of
Colin Horner. It subsequently transpired from messages on the offender’s mobile
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4 cases
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The King v Niall Lehd
...any other test which may have been applied by the Probation Service in its 44 pre-sentence report: DPP’s Reference (No 6 of 2019) (Price) [2020] NICA 8 and R v Allen [2020] NICA 25. [80] Second, the future risk which lies at the heart of the statutory regime must be significant; thus, a mer......
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King v Filippo Sangermano
...any other test which may have been applied by the Probation Service in its pre-sentence report: DPP’s Reference (No 6 of 2019) (Price) [2020] NICA 8 and R v Allen [2020] NICA 25. [55] Second, the future risk which lies at the heart of the statutory regime must be significant. Thus, a mere p......
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Queen v Campbell Allen
...used by the PBNI is not the statutory test, see Director of Public Prosecution's Reference (Number 6 of 2019) - Ian David Price [2020] NICA 8 at paragraph [68]. It is not sufficient to simply rely on the PBNI assessment but rather consideration should be given to the statutory test. The sec......
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R v Allen
...used by the PBNI is not the statutory test, see Director of Public Prosecution's Reference (Number 6 of 2019) - Ian David Price [2020] NICA 8 at paragraph [68]. It is not sufficient to simply rely on the PBNI assessment but rather consideration should be given to the statutory test. The sec......
2 books & journal articles
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Fight, flight, freeze…or lie? Rethinking the principles of res gestae evidence in light of its revival
...[2019] EWCA Crim 2271.48. Forfurther examples of res gestae being used in cases in a non-domestic context see DPP’s Ref (no.6 of 2019) [2020] NICA 8 inwhich a ‘999’call was admissible ‘as res gestae or as hearsay evidence’in a non-domestic case; RvHarvey [2014] EWCACrim 54 in which res gest......
-
Fight, flight, freeze…or lie? Rethinking the principles of res gestae evidence in light of its revival
...[2019] EWCA Crim 2271.48. Forfurther examples of res gestae being used in cases in a non-domestic context see DPP’s Ref (no.6 of 2019) [2020] NICA 8 inwhich a ‘999’call was admissible ‘as res gestae or as hearsay evidence’in a non-domestic case; RvHarvey [2014] EWCACrim 54 in which res gest......