R v Beatty
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Scott Baker |
| Judgment Date | 17 October 2006 |
| Neutral Citation | [2006] EWCA Crim 2359 |
| Docket Number | Case No: 200503140 A8 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
| Date | 17 October 2006 |
[2006] EWCA Crim 2359
Lord Justice Scott Baker
Mr Justice Jack and
Mr Justice Mitting
Case No: 200503140 A8
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM CROWN COURT AT BIRMINGHAM
POPPLEWELL J.
Edward Fitzgerald Q.C. and Paul Taylor (instructed by Scott-Moncrieff, Harbour and Sinclair) for the Appellant
Tim Raggatt Q.C. (instructed by The Crown Prosecution Service) for the Respondent
Introduction.
This is a reference by the Criminal Cases Review Commission on sentence under section 9 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995.
On 15 March 1991 the appellant, David Beatty, was sentenced to life imprisonment. It was a discretionary life sentence under the statutory regime then in place. The tariff is said to have been 8 years, but that has not been confirmed. The appellant had earlier pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping and making threats to kill.
The sentencing judge in the Crown Court at Birmingham was Popplewell J. It is plain from his sentencing remarks that the doctors originally had in mind that a hospital order would be appropriate. Indeed, an interim order had been made under section 38 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (the 1983 Act) so that the appellant could be assessed.
Popplewell J. said expressly that had a hospital order been appropriate it would have been the most appropriate disposal. However, the evidence before the judge showed that it was not. The judge had no power to make a hospital order unless the statutory conditions were met. That required the supporting evidence of two appropriately qualified psychiatrists, one of whom had to give evidence orally.
What the judge had, was the evidence of Dr Strickland, who said the appellant's condition was not treatable. This opinion appears to have come as something of a surprise. Certainly it came as a severe shock to the appellant. The judge had no option but to pass an indeterminate sentence. He said:
"Above all I have to bear in mind the danger that you present to the general public. It is expressed by Dr Strickland in his report in 1990, when he described you as being an extremely and very dangerous man who constituted a grave and immediate danger to the public. In his most recent report he expresses the view that this was a very serious offence, and you must be considered to be a dangerous man. I have to bear in mind that in 1976 you committed an offence of rape on a small child, for which a hospital order was made."
The facts.
We turn to the facts of the index offence and the earlier 1976 offence. In 1990, the appellant (then aged 33) was married and working as a mortuary assistant at the East Birmingham Hospital. Whilst working at the hospital, he met a 17 year old girl (the complainant) with whom he formed a relationship. He subsequently left his wife and in April 1990 the appellant and the complainant went on holiday together. However, following the holiday their relationship ended. The appellant refused to accept that the relationship was over and on 4 May 1990 he telephoned the complainant. She made it clear to the appellant that she did not want to get back together with him. The appellant then went out and bought a replica revolver and 50 rounds of blank ammunition.
At approximately 16.45 the appellant arrived at the hospital mortuary office where he found the complainant working. He told her that he wished to resume their relationship following which he put her against one of the chairs and threatened her with the revolver. He showed her the rounds of ammunition inside the revolver causing her to believe that the weapon was real. The appellant then led the complainant to his car at gun point. Once inside the car, he threatened her further with a stanley knife and then drove the car out of Birmingham. During the course of the journey he subjected her to physical violence. The complainant told the appellant that if he did not turn the car round and take her back she would jump out. The appellant then agreed to turn round and at that point stopped the car. However, instead of turning round he threatened the complainant again with the stanley knife and placed a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. He then drove to an area near Nottingham where he stopped the car again. He led the complainant out of the car across a field and into a remote wooded area. He stripped her naked and forced her to the ground. He positioned the revolver on the ground so that it was pointing towards her genitals and then raped her. After the incident, he allowed her to get dressed and they walked back to his car. On the way back to the car, the complainant tried to take the revolver from the appellant. However, he pulled it away from her and told her that he was going to shoot her. He then fired the revolver several times into the air as if it were a genuine firearm.
Several days later the complainant reported the incident to the medical secretary at the East Birmingham Hospital, following which the appellant was arrested and charged. In interview he accepted that he had hit the complainant and threatened her with the revolver and the stanley knife but stated that he and the complainant had had consensual sexual intercourse.
In 1976, aged 20, in Northern Ireland the appellant pleaded guilty to attempted murder, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, rape and common assault. A hospital order was made and he was sent to Broadmoor.
At the time of the offences he had fantasies of doing something outrageous. He dressed in black, including a black balaclava and pretended he was a member of the I.R.A. He went into the mountains and into someone's house where there was a young boy whom he locked in a cupboard. Then he abducted an 8 year old girl who he took into the hills, where he raped her and stabbed her twice before leaving her for dead. Mercifully she survived and made, so it is said, a complete physical recovery. The appellant was made the subject of a hospital order under section 60 of the Mental Health Act 1959, but for some reason no restriction order was made in respect of his discharge. After 6 or 7 years in Broadmoor he was transferred to spend 1 year in Eastdale Unit. He was then discharged to a hostel in Birmingham. Thereafter, he remained unsupervised in the community.
The risk of subsequent relapse was obviously not foreseen and any future Mental Health Review Tribunal considering the possibility of the appellant's release into the community will need to ensure that lessons have been learned from what tragically proved to be an error in 1985.
Sentence and subsequent history.
Following the appellant's pleas of guilty in November 1990 an interim hospital order was, as we have said, made under section 38 of the 1983 Act. This was based on the evidence of Dr Strickland and Dr Bond. Their opinion was that he was suffering from a longstanding personality disorder. Dr Strickland described him as suffering from a significant degree of personality disorder amounting to a psychopathic disorder as defined in the 1983 Act. Dr Bond agreed he was suffering from a psychopathic disorder within the meaning of the 1983 Act. He described the condition as "a persistent disorder or disability of mind which results in abnormally aggressive and seriously irresponsible conduct." The situation was complicated by an underlying depressive illness.
The question was whether the appellant's psychopathic disorder was treatable, for unless it was the conditions for making a hospital order were not met and the judge, as in the event happened, could not make one. The medical evidence put before Popplewell J. at the conclusion of the interim assessment indicated it was not.
This case has been referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission for the court to consider afresh the sentence because, so it is submitted, contrary to the evidence before Popplewell J. the appellant's condition was indeed treatable.
At the time of sentence in March 1991 the judge had an opinion from Dr Strickland that a hospital order should not be made. He said in his report:
"Given the amount of treatment input he has had in the past, and our ability fully to comprehend his latest offence, it was felt that we could not with certainty come to the opinion that Mr Beatty was treatable, as defined in the Mental Health Act 1983. Mr Beatty himself expressed a high degree of motivation to receive treatment here, although part of this seemed to be based upon the fact that his wife was visiting him here regularly and it appeared that she was going to be more accepting of him were he to be in hospital rather than prison. Our principal concerns were that we would be left with a man on whom we could make little psychological impact, and as such he would remain in hospital forever."
Among the other material before the judge was a report from Dr Rimmer. He too reported that the appellant was suffering from psychopathic disorder but said there was insufficient evidence to suggest that his condition was treatable and he therefore made no medical recommendation.
In consequence the judge had no option but to pass a life sentence. The appellant sought leave to appeal. His renewed application came before the Full Court presided over by Steyn L.J. on 30 April 1993. There were further medical reports. Dr Strickland had assessed the appellant again in May 1992. He said the appellant suffered from a severe disorder of personality amounting to a psychopathic disorder. He added:
"It is...
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