Minimum terms
High Court setting of minimum terms for mandatory life sentences under the Criminal Justice Act 2003
[2006] EWHC 937 (QB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE Ref No. 2004/1106/MTR
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand,
London WC2A 2LL
Handed down, 9 May 2006
Before:
MR. JUSTICE CRANE
IN THE MATTER OF SHAUN ANTHONY ARMSTRONG
JUDGMENT
1. This is an application under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, Schedule 22, paragraph 3, for the setting of a minimum term to be served by a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder.
2. Shaun Anthony Armstrong pleaded guilty to murder at Leeds Crown Court on 27 July 1995 before Ognall J.
3. On 30 June 1994 Armstrong abducted a 3-year old girl from the street and took her to his nearby home. Her body was found 3 days later concealed in a wardrobe. She had been subjected to gross violation of her anus and genitalia and in the trial judge's view had almost certainly died because Armstrong suffocated her when she cried out at the assault. The implication must be that he intended the death. He had previous convictions, but none of a sexual nature. He was 32 at the time of the murder.
4. A trial had been listed, the issue being diminished responsibility. On the morning of the hearing a plea of guilty was entered. As the trial judge concluded, the psychiatric reports of Dr.Naismith and Dr.Fraser made it clear that Armstrong had a severely disordered personality. He had failed to cooperate fully with Dr.Naismith and the views of the psychiatrist differed in emphasis, but Dr.Fraser considered that his conduct was consistent with substantial impairment of responsibility. There was also a psychologist's report.
5. The trial judge recommended a term of “16 years – subject to risk”. Lord Taylor CJ thought 15/16 years appropriate, but expressed concern that Armstrong might still be sexually dangerous after the expiry of any tariff. The tariff was set at 16 years.
6. I must have regard to paragraph 4 of Schedule 22 of the 2003 Act. The relevant factors are the seriousness of the offence, the time spent on remand, the length of the notified minimum term, the general principles set out in Schedule 21 that now apply to minimum terms, and the recommendations made by the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice.
7. As to Schedule 21, the murder of a child involving the abduction of the child or sexual or sadistic motivation normally now results in a whole life order: paragraph 4(1)(b) and (2)(b). It may well be that the degree of mental disorder and the plea of guilty would have led a sentencing judge to conclude that those normal consequences would not follow. In that case the starting point would have been 30 years. Although the victim was a child, there must have been physical suffering before death and there was some concealment of the body, those aggravating features (listed in paragraph 10) would largely have been taken into account in arriving at the starting point. The mitigating factor of the mental state (listed in paragraph 11) would also have been taken into account if a whole life order was not imposed. The plea of guilty could at most have resulted in a reduction of 1½ years, on the principles set out in the Guidelines of the Sentencing Guidelines Council on Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea, issued in 2005, since this was a plea at the door of the court: see “F. Application to Sentencing for Murder”.
8. If I assume such a reduction for the plea of guilty, the minimum term would have been likely to be 28½ years on today's principles. Even if greater weight were given to the Applicant's mental state, a term of not less than 25 years would be inevitable.
9. The minimum term was not open to criticism on the principles that applied at the time. I have borne in mind the contents of the letter dated 31 March 1998 from the Applicant's solicitors and the extent of the co-operation in interview and subsequent inquiry. There is no up to date information about the Applicant. The victim's mother has not been consulted, because of her fragile mental state.
10. Having regard to all the relevant factors, I conclude that the minimum term should be 16 years, as was the tariff set, subject to a deduction of 12 months and 21 days for the period on remand.