John Richard Haugen v. Her Majesty’s Advocate [2015] HCJAC 121

Note of appeal against sentence:- On 2 September 2015, at Glasgow High Court, the appellant pled guilty under accelerated procedure under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to a charge of murder. On 29 September 2015 the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a punishment part of 19 years discounted from 22 years on account of the plea of guilty. The appellant appealed against his sentence. The circumstances were that the appellant and the deceased had fallen out regarding money that the deceased owed the appellant. The dispute escalated to the point that on 14 May 2015 the appellant stabbed the deceased 27 times - 16 in the back, 10 in the front and once to the right arm. Some of the stab wounds had penetrated the heart and it was agreed that considerable force had been used in inflicting the blows. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that the sentence imposed was excessive. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that he was 41 years of age, single and worked as a service delivery driver at the airport. He had previously been in the Army for 16 years until 2013 and had tours in Northern Ireland and Iraq. He continued to serve in the Territorial Army. The appellant had a very limited schedule of previous convictions for minor road traffic offences. It was submitted in behalf of the appellant that he had expressed some remorse in relation to his actions. Here the court allowed the appeal against sentence. The court had regard to the guidance in HMA v Boyle 2010 JC 66 and considered that the headline sentence of 22 years was excessive and reduced the starting point of the punishment part to 19 years and discounted that to 16 years to reflect the plea of guilty. The court noted that the appellant had little by way of a criminal record, it was not premeditated, did not involve taking a weapon into a public place, he had made no attempts to conceal the crime having telephoned the police after the incident and he had expressed remorse for his actions.