Conor McAteer v. Her Majesty’s Advocate [2016] HCJAC 90

Appeal against sentence following upon a reference from the SCCRC:- Here the appellant, aged 20, had been convicted of being concerned in the supply of ecstasy over a period of 3 ½ months contrary to section 4(3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. He had been found in possession of ecstasy tablets worth £640 and £425 in cash. He was sentenced to a period of detention of 28 months. His co-accused was sentenced to a sentence of 20 months reduced from 21 months for dealing over a 5 week period after having ecstasy tablets worth £230 and cash of £680, of which £380 was attributable to drug dealing, recovered from his possession. The co-accused successfully appealed against the sentence imposed and his sentence was reduced from a starting point of 9 months to 8 months. The appellant’s appeal against sentence did not pass the sift. Here the court considered that the appellant’s sentence was excessive. The court considered that there was no basis for the substantial disparity between the sentences imposed. Whilst there were slight differences in the periods of the libel and the recoveries of drugs and money in each case, those differences did not justify such a distinction between the sentences selected. The court considered that the appellant had improved his life significantly since his involvement in the offending and had matured with improved life prospects, having undertaken a college course and gained conditional entry to third year at university. Since the sentence was imposed the appellant had continued his studies within prison and had served 8 months of his sentence. Here the court allowed the appeal and substituted a period of 12 months detention.