John Webber [2019] EWCA Crim 1590

The appellant was convicted of 26 counts of sexual offending and sentenced to 32 years’ imprisonment.
The appellant ran children’s care homes in the 70s and 80s, and the children he abused came from those homes and also from a scout pack he was involved with.

The sentencing judge found that most offences fell within category 2 but that two victims had suffered severe psychological harm. In respect of them, the offending was placed in category 1. That categorisation was challenged.

The defence submitted that there was no evidence of extremely severe psychological harm to justify category 1.
Held: the judge was entitled to regard the harm suffered by the two particular victims as falling within category 1 due to a combination of factors at play in their cases. They suffered severe psychological harm and were acutely vulnerable as young children with education and developmental needs. It may be that the overall sentence could have been structured differently, but the overall sentence was not manifestly excessive, albeit it was at the higher end of the range.

The appeal was dismissed.