Court of Appeal Reduce Sentence in Prison Drugs Case

Case study summary

Our client was seen on prison CCTV collecting a parcel including mobile phones and drugs whilst on remand. He pleaded guilty at court and received 12 months immediate custody. We successfully appealed this and the Court of Appeal reduced it to 8 months.

Case study

Our client was on remand for separate offences when he was caught on CCTV collecting a package which included mobile phones and Class B drugs. He was targeted and threatened by other prisoners so he had little choice other than to comply.

We represented him throughout the police interview and the court process. He pleaded guilty at court and we prepared an extensive mitigation package for the Judge. Regrettably, the Judge sentenced him to 12 months immediate custody, citing how serious committing offences in prison were.

However, our client had strong mitigation which we did not think was properly considered. We appealed to the Court of Appeal who agreed with us. The panel of Appeal judges reduced our client's sentence to 8 months, effectively making him time served. He will be released in just a few days.

Our client was extremely pleased with the result and is looking forward to an early release.