Daniel Hallgate [2019] EWCA Crim 1495

The appellant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment for possession of an offensive weapon, 2 years and 3 months for affray and 4 months for assaulting a police officer. The latter two sentences were consecutive, making a total of 2 years and 7 months’ imprisonment.

The principal ground of appeal was that the sentence for the affray, before 25% credit for plea, was the maximum allowed by statute.

Held: this was a bad case of affray, not all affrays involve lethal weapons, but this one did. The imposition of the maximum penalty does not require the case to be the worst imaginable. One purpose of sentence is protection of the public, and the appellant poses a serious risk of harm. His previous convictions were a serious aggravating feature, and the judge was entitled to take a sentence for the first and second offences together before discounting for plea.

The appeal was dismissed.