Success in the Court of Appeal for Adam Williams

Adam Williams succeeds in having his young client's custodial sentence quashed in the Court of Appeal. 

Adam's client was just 14 years old at the time of the offences (S20 and affray) but was 18 by the time he was eventually convicted by a jury. The offence involved four youths shouting at a property, and then some of the group stabbing the male occupant and hitting him over the head with a bottle when he came out to confront them. 

The Court of Appeal agreed with Mr Williams' submissions that the Judge could not have deemed the appellant a persistent offender as the appellant only had a caution from when he was 12 years old before this offence, and nothing else. Therefore, the sentence at the time should have been a Youth Rehabilitation Order and could not have been a Detention and Training Order. 

Given the appellant had already served part of his sentence in custody, whilst the Court agreed a community based penalty with requirements should have been imposed, rather than punish him further by imposing one now, they reduced the custodial term from 24 months to 5 months to reflect the time he had already served, to ensure his immediate release.