Case No. EWCA-Crim-2366

. 16.As the law stands, there are four categories of offence, all of which may apply to the same fraudulent conduct: i)Common law conspiracy to defraud where sentence was originally at large but which now carries a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, see s.12 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987. ii)Common law conspiracy to cheat which was abolished by s.32(1)(a) of the Theft Act 1968 ‘except as regards offences relating to the public revenue’. Sentence remains at large.iii)The fraudulent evasion of VAT contrary to s.72 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, which carries a maximum sentence on indictment of seven years’ imprisonment.iv)A statutory fraud offence, carrying a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment. 17.Here, the Appellants were convicted of conspiracy to commit the common law offence of cheating the public revenue. Had they been convicted of statutory fraud or VAT offences they would have been liable to maximum penalties of ten and seven years respectively. Miss Montgomery’s theme was that it is wrong in principle to pass a sentence on a common law conspiracy that is longer than the maximum penalty available for the equivalent statutory offence or the cognate common law charge of conspiracy to defraud. 18.In support of this assertion, Miss Montgomery placed heavy reliance upon the decisions in