The practice of publishing Judges' sentencing remarks is a relatively recent one. Hizonner's remarks to a famous footballer who used a 15 year-old girl for sex are
here and show how carefully the sentence was put together, and where it fits into the guidelines.
Interesting to read such remarks in full, as is always the case. One surprise though. Costs against him of £50,000 but no award of compensation to the victim.
ReplyDeleteI must agree, a massive order for costs against a defendant who can clearly afford it but no consideration for what the victim must have gone through
DeleteIt seems to me that the Judge gave extensive consideration to what the victim must have gone through. He mentions the effects on her several times in his remarks.
DeleteMust the prosecution request that the Judge consider a compensation order in the same way as, for example, an order restricting access to the internet or a SOPO? Might the idea of compensation have been canvassed with the victim and/or her family, and declined?
As there’s no compensation order or any reasons given for not making an order, it looks like a mistake by the judge. The requirements of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 s. 130 as paraphrased in the Sexual Offences Definitive Guideline are that “The court must consider making a compensation order in any case in which personal injury, loss or damage has resulted from the offence. The court must give reasons if it decides not to make an order in such cases.”
DeleteA general question: should such cases be heard by Circuit Judges or High Court ones?
ReplyDeleteIf you accept, as I do, that the sentence was squarely based on the guidelines, I can see no reason why it should not have been heard as it was.
DeleteCases are allocated to judges carefully, the most serious and complex cases going to High Court judges ('m'lud rather than 'Your Honour).
DeleteSome prominent cases such as this one are relatively straightforward, turning on facts rather than complex law. Some judges are 'ticketed' for, say sex cases or those involving family work. I have been at lunch in a Crown Court when the Resident Judge asked the table:- "Who's got a sex ticket?" as such a case was due in shortly.
"There is an abuse of trust, inasmuch as those who enjoy positions of what today is known as ‘celebrity’ are trusted by their fans and the family of fans to act in an entirely appropriate manner towards, in particular, young people who are less able to protect themselves."
ReplyDeleteAfter what we now know about Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and others, I find that rather worrying.
Another fascinating look at how a good judge constructs his sentencing remarks - what particularly struck me was that he regarded the defendant's good character to be an aggravating feature in this case, as it was his celebrity status that had attracted the victim. Worth remembering that one, that 'good character' can turn on you and bite...
DeleteAren't good character and celebrity status rather different things ?
DeleteA rather depressing Daily Mail headline today. "Shamed footballer Adam Johnson is being bombarded with letters and racy photos from female fans a week after being jailed for molesting a 15-year-old girl". While I have absolutely no sympathy for him, the celebrity obsessed society we live in must accept some of the blame.
ReplyDeleteThere is a glaring disparity between the sentences of men convicted of underaged sex and women convicted of the same. Caroline Berriman, teaching assistant, had sex 50 times with a 15yo boy and got two years suspended. Johnson did not have sex with a 15yo girl and gets 6 years inside. The TA is in a formal position of trust. A footballer's position of trust is rather notional.
ReplyDeleteNot according to His Honour in his summing up: "Insofar as mitigating factors are concerned, it is right that you have no
ReplyDeleteprevious convictions and are of good character, but this is a case which the Guidelines anticipated, where your very character has been used to facilitate the offence and is not, therefore a mitigating but an aggravating factor."