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The prosecution's case at trial
The prosecution's case at trial
The prosecution's case at trial was summarised at paragraphs 38 to 40 of a Sentencing Note which referred to the Theft guidelines and said:
The Crown place this into the top of category B culpability. There is a level of coordination and planning (obtaining the device, finding the vehicles, hiring the car, coordinating the journey, drop-off sites for onward sale et cetera) to the offences that arguably places it into category A. However, the use of the hire car in the defendant's own name, using their own mobile phones and keeping them on, enabling the defendants to be tracked to the locations, and then driving in convoy together on the return journey are all factors, the Crown say, mean the offences fall below the requisite level of sophistication to put it into culpability A.
Harm is Category 1 as the starting point is £100,000 and the total value is over £220,000, which elevates it upwards in category 1. However, even without the victim personal statements, the Crown submit that there are obvious significant additional harm factors present elevating it further up category 1 and potentially outside the category range:
items stolen were of substantial value to the loser regardless of monetary worth;
high level of inconvenience caused;
consequential financial harm to the victim."
We are told that the defence agreed that the case fell within category 1B of the Theft guideline, and we accept that that is so.
The starting point for a category 1B substantive offence of theft would be 2 years' custody with a category range from 1 year to 3 years 6 months' custody. A starting point for a category 1A substantive offence would be 3 years 6 months' custody with a category range from 2 years 6 months to 6 years' custody. Category 1 is accompanied by a note that "adjustment should be made for any significant additional harm factors where very high-value goods are stolen". Category 1 includes cases of very high-value goods stolen to a value above £100,000 or high value high value stolen goods (£10,000 to £100,000) with significant additional harm to the victim or others. It is worth remarking at this stage that the value of each car would have put the theft of that vehicle into category 2 high value unless the level of additional harm was significant, as evidenced by the two witness impact statements, in which case a single theft could have been elevated to category 1.