Towsey [2019] EWCA Crim 63

The applicant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years. His application for leave to appeal against conviction and sentence was refused and the application renewed.

Issue was taken with the decision of the trial judge to admit into evidence some notes found in his room which suggested he had ambitions to “rise up through the criminal ranks”. No issue was taken with the decision to admit the evidence of his previous convictions. The issue in the case was self-defence and in his ruling the judge said that the applicant’s attitude was relevant, it was also relevant to his state of mind and how he may react to a challenge to his authority. The jury were given directions about the uses to which they should put this evidence.

The defence argued that the evidence was that the applicant was a low-level street dealer and nothing like the gangster, real or imagined, that the prosecution sought to portray him as. As to sentence, the argument was that the minimum term was set too high as the judge was wrong to find there had been no element of provocation, falling short of a defence.

Held: “bad character can be established by evidence of previous conduct, it can also be established by evidence of a stated future intent. Provided the jury was sure that the notes were approximately contemporaneous and representative of his state of mind, the material was admissible.” The minimum term was not manifestly excessive, the starting point for murder where a knife is taken to the scene is 25 years, the judge was entitled to discount provocation in the circumstances, and age and the absence of intention to kill were taken into account. It is a severe sentence but was within the appropriate range.