[2025] EWCA Crim 1285

This is an appeal against sentence brought by leave of the single judge.

The anonymity provisions of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 apply. There must be no reporting of the case which is likely to lead to the identification of the victims of the offences. This prohibition applies for the lifetime of the victims, unless waived or lifted in accordance with section 3 of the Act.

On 7 February 2025, in the Crown Court at Liverpool, the appellant, who is now 42 years of age, was sentenced by His Honour Judge Swinnerton to a total of 18 months' imprisonment for two offences of sexual assault, contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, committed against two different women several years apart. On count 2, the sentence was six months' imprisonment. On count 4, the sentence was 12 months' imprisonment, which was ordered to run consecutively. The appellant had been convicted of the offences on 20 December 2024 after a trial. There were other counts on which the appellant had been acquitted by the jury.

The grounds of appeal, in short, are that the judge misapplied the relevant Sentencing Council guideline, failed to give sufficient credit for the appellant's personal mitigation, and failed to have sufficient regard to the principle of totality, with the overall result that the sentence was manifestly excessive.