Court of Appeal, Criminal Division

Published May 19, 2008

Regina v Davies (Gareth)

Before Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Chief Justice, Mr Justice Pitchford and Mrs Justice Dobbs

Judgment April 21, 2008

A judge deciding whether aggravating features existed to increase the appropriate starting point for the minimum term of a mandatory life sentence should apply the same standard of proof as that applied by the jury in reaching their verdict.

The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, so held in allowing in part an appeal by Gareth Davies against a sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years imposed by Judge Hawkins at the Central Criminal Court on November 14, 2007, following his conviction for murder.

Ms Sally O’Neill, QC and Mr Stephen Moses, assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, for the appellant; Mr Simon Denison for the Crown.

THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE, giving the judgment of the court, said that under section 269 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, when fixing the minimum term that a defendant convicted of murder had to serve before being considered for release on licence, the court was required to have regard to the seriousness of the offence.

Paragraph 5 of Schedule 21 to the Act required that, if the court considered that the seriousness of the offence was particularly high, the appropriate starting point should be 30 years. Cases that would normally fall within that paragraph included a murder involving sexual conduct.

The only issue before the judge in relation to the appellant’s sentence was whether the evidence led to the conclusion that the murder involved sexual conduct.

The difference between a 15-year starting point and a 30-year starting point when fixing a minimum term could have very great significance.

The standard of proof that the court should apply when deciding whether aggravating features existed that lifted the starting point from 15 to 30 years should be the same as that to be applied by the jury when reaching their verdict.

The only factor that pointed to the possibility of sexual conduct having been involved in the present case was the fact that the victim’s body was left naked.

That raised the possibility that sexual conduct was involved, but it did no more than that. The judge’s finding that the crime involved sexual conduct had to be set aside and the starting point for the offence should be 15 years. A minimum term of 18 years would be substituted.

Solicitors: CPS, Ludgate Hill.

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