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ANTHONY COUGHTREY, R v. [1997] EWCA Crim 224 (28th January, 1997)
No:
96/2786/Z4
IN
THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL
DIVISION
Royal
Courts of Justice
The
Strand
London
WC2
Tuesday
28th January 1997
B E F O R E :
LORD
JUSTICE ROCH
MR
JUSTICE BUTTERFIELD
and
HIS
HONOUR JUDGE RANT QC
JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL
(Acting as a Judge of the CACD)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
R E G I N A
- v -
ANTHONY
COUGHTREY
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Computer Aided Transcript of the Stenograph Notes of
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited
180 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2HD
Tel No: 0171 831 3183 Fax No: 0171 831 8838
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Non-counsel application
- - - - - - - - - - - -
JUDGMENT
(
As
approved by the Court
)
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Crown Copyright
Tuesday
28th January 1997
MR
JUSTICE BUTTERFIELD: On 25th March 1996, in the Crown Court at Knightsbridge,
the applicant pleaded guilty to count 1, a charge of breaking prison. He
pleaded not guilty to a related offence of false imprisonment and was acquitted
after a trial of that allegation. On 28th March 1996 the applicant was
sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, to run concurrently with a sentence of
life imprisonment.
A co-accused, Gary Johns, who was similarly charged on both counts, also
pleaded guilty to count 1 and was acquitted on the charge of false
imprisonment. He received an identical sentence.
The applicant now renews his application for leave to appeal against
sentence following refusal by the single judge.
The life sentence which the applicant was serving was imposed for an
offence of murder by the Crown Court at Luton in May 1993. The applicant,
consequent upon that sentence, was transferred to the lifer unit at E Wing at
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs and classified as category B. He was allocated to
duties in the Works Department because he was not known to be a security risk.
During the afternoon of 30th July 1995 the applicant and his co-accused
escaped from their work place in the prison. They burned through the perimeter
fence using oxyacetylene equipment and then used a ladder to scale the outside
wall, over which they made their escape. The applicant remained unlawfully at
large for about one week until his arrest in Stevenage on 7th August.
The prosecution alleged that, immediately prior to that escape, the two
men had overpowered their civilian supervisor, tying him up and threatening
him. That allegation formed the basis of the count of false imprisonment. The
applicant alleged that the supervisor was a corrupt employee who had helped to
arrange the escape, an allegation which the jury, by their verdict of not
guilty, were not apparently satisfied the Crown had disproved.
Breaking prison is a very serious offence, which in normal circumstances
will result in a substantial consecutive prison sentence. Here the sentence
imposed had to run concurrently with the life sentence. Nonetheless it seems to
us that the court must impose a sentence which is of appropriate length and
must not impose a sentence which, had the prisoner been serving a long
determinate sentence, would be regarded as manifestly excessive.
There is little guidance on the appropriate length of sentence for such
offence as this. Such guidance as there is suggests that it is at least
arguable that a term of seven years for an escape not involving actual violence
and which appears to have been achieved without outside assistance or very
extensive planning was excessive in length. We accordingly grant the
application for leave to appeal.
We further consider it would be helpful if the full Court hearing this
appeal thought it appropriate, for the Court to offer guidance on the general
approach to be taken by sentencers dealing with cases of escape from custody.
We propose, in those circumstances, to grant leave and to extend legal aid
for counsel only to argue the appeal in due course.
The appellant must understand that we are by no means concluding that the
sentence was necessarily excessive in length, only that it is arguably so.
© 1997 Crown Copyright
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