R v Thomas
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE |
| Judgment Date | 01 December 1983 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1983] EWCA Crim J1201-1 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 4450/C/82 and 4451/C/82 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
| Date | 01 December 1983 |
[1983] EWCA Crim J1201-1
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
The Lord Chief Justice of England (Lord Lane)
Mr. Justice Skinner
and
Mr. Justice McCowan
Nos. 4450/C/82 and 4451/C/82
MR. C.W.C. STRACHAN appeared on behalf of the Appellant Spence.
MR. E. IRVING appeared on behalf of the Appellant Thomas.
On 2nd August last year at the Crown Court at Winchester these appellants were convicted and sentenced as follows: Spence, for kidnapping and also for attempted kidnapping, concurrent periods of eight years' imprisonment on each count; Thomas, for the same offences, concurrent periods of six years' imprisonment on each count.
The appellants knew two girls called Deborah Harwood and Debra Naylor. These girls were each aged 17, and were prostitutes working in the Southampton area. They came to London during the first or second week in March last year. They met the appellants there. Apparently Spence already knew Deborah Harwood. It is not exactly clear what happened on that occasion. Originally there were included in the indictment charges relating to that meeting between the girls and the appellants, but at the trial those charges were dropped. In any event the girls returned to Southampton. Deborah Harwood was a half-caste, Debra Naylor was white.
For reasons which it is not difficult to guess, Spence and Thomas wished to get the girls back from Southampton to London. It seems quite plain that the object was that these girls would then, in London, continue their trade as prostitutes and that the two appellants or one or other of them would collect their share of the girls' earnings.
What happened was this. Spence owned a large powerful American motor car. He and Thomas in that car, together with their two girl friends, went down to Southampton. One of the girls was McInnis. Her task was to seek out the two Deborahs in order that they might be put in the car and taken back to London.
The account given by McInnis of that part of the enterprise was referred to by the Judge as follows: "They went to Southampton on the Monday. The men went, she did not know where, and she and Mandy went out on the beat. She picked up two men in that time, earning £20 from each, so she had £40 in her pocket that evening.'On the Tuesday morning we left the hotel at 9 a.m. to the place where the girls were supposed to be living.' White Debbie had given her address, 79 Oxford Avenue, at one of the hotels she had booked in, and it so happened that it was along Oxford Avenue this car was being driven. Said by the defendants, of course, to be purely coincidental. They were trying to find their way out of Southampton. Said by her to be going where the girls were supposed to be living.'All four of us went together to Oxford Avenue. We saw the two girls walking'.
"She described where they were sitting. Trevor (Thomas) driving, Spence next to him, these two girls in the back.'When the girls approached the car and realised who it was they started to run. They were walking towards the car. I then heard screaming. They were both screaming.'"
The two Deborahs then, in an endeavour to escape, ran down the road into a small corner shop, Asian run grocers. The story was taken up by one of the men working in the shop called Ahmad. "Two ladies", said Ahmad, "running, charging, screaming, into my shop, trying to hide behind the meat counter. One clung to my feet and knees, the other to Ali's feet and knees". Harwood was then dragged out of the shop bodily and McInnis, who was still in the motor car, takes up the story of what she saw:
"'A couple of minutes afterwards, after they had gone in, Spence and Thomas came out carrying Debbie (Harwood). She was half-caste. Her feet weren't touching the ground. Thomas had hold of her legs, Spence had her upper part. She was screaming and struggling and was pushed into the back of the car. Spence started hitting her,...
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R v Paul Gordon Attwell
...was taken of the agreed basis of plea and the psychiatric report. 18 In support of the grounds counsel referred to the cases of R v Spence and Thomas (1983) 5 Cr App R(S) 413, Attorney-General's Reference No 2 of 2004 [2004] EWCA Crim 1280, R v Burton [2005] EWCA Crim 253, R v Wells [2005] ......
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R v Mark Edward Withers
...No issue is taken, nor could it properly be taken, with the appropriateness of the restraining order. 15 Miss McCarrol has cited R v Spence and Thomas (1983) 5 Cr App R(S) 413 and R v Dzokamshure [2009] 1 Cr App R(S) 112. 16 There is no modern sentencing guideline for offences of kidnapping......
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...prison governor's report, the court now feels able to take a lenient course, e.g. R v Plows, 5 Cr. App. R. (S.) 20, and R. v. Thomas [1983] Crim. L.R. 493, where the court said of a sentence of nine months imprisonment that it was neither wrong in principle nor excessive in length, but beca......
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R v Chad Alfred Ferris
...a prison governor's report, the court now feels able to take a lenient course, e.g. R v Plows, 5 Cr App R (S) 20, and R v Thomas [1983] Crim L R 493, where the court said of a sentence of nine months’ imprisonment that it was neither wrong in principle, nor excessive in length, but because ......