Claire Hazel Francis [2019] EWCA Crim 1201

The appellant was convicted of possessing a prohibited firearm, a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun, and sentenced to the minimum term of 5 years. She appealed on the basis the judge should have found exceptional circumstances justifying a sentence below the statutory minimum.

During a search of a storage facility a number of items were recovered including the shotgun which had the appellant’s DNA on the fore-end grip. In interview she said she may have touched it when she rummaged in a bag that had been left at her home address by an associate of her partner, she told him to collect it and he did. At trial she said that she had not realised the bag contained a firearm until she was arrested.

In sentencing the judge took note that the bag was left by another, she realised what it was when she touched it, it was brought to the house uninvited and she was not connected to any serious crime but she knew what it was and allowed the firearm back into circulation. The judge properly reviewed the questions posed in Avis and considered the question of exceptional circumstances.

Held: the gun was not left by someone she had chosen to associate with, and she did not volunteer to harbour it, she was in knowing possession for a brief period. On the other hand, the weapon had no legitimate purpose and the appellant can only have believed she was returning it to the possession of a person for criminal purposes. This was a difficult case, but the Court concluded that the circumstances were such that the judge should have found exceptional circumstances. The sentence of 5 years was quashed, and 3 years imposed in its place.