Sentencing

There are close to 300 children in the State whose mothers are imprisoned, with devastating effects on the children and their families, according to a new report. The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) estimates that 278 children are impacted by maternal imprisonment and recommends that the courts take

The Court of Appeal has upheld a 10-year sentence imposed on a man who entered into a coercive sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. The girl had a child with the man during the abuse. The accused had pleaded guilty to one count of the defilement of a child and one count of sexual assault. De

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a young man convicted of dangerous driving which caused the death of a young woman in Oughterard, County Galway. The man had originally been sentenced to three years' imprisonment with 18 months suspended. However, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy held tha

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed all grounds of appeal against a 24-year murder sentence. The court found that this sentence was neither excessive nor unlawful and a three-year reduction following a late-stage guilty plea was sufficient, if not “generous”.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by the DPP against a sentence of three years and three months' imprisonment for a young woman convicted of gross negligence manslaughter of her infant child. The final three years of the sentence were suspended by the trial judge and the DPP argued that th

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a Romanian national who repeatedly raped a young woman in 2018. The man was previously sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by the Central Criminal Court, with the final three-and-a-half years suspended due to the accused not speaking English and not

The Supreme Court has held that the victims of crime may not generally influence the sentence imposed by a trial judge on a convicted criminal, but stated that a court may take into account a plea for leniency when making a final determination on the appropriate sentence. The decision arose from an

The Court of Appeal has held that the sentence for a man who impeded the investigation and apprehension of the murderer of Thomas Farnan was too lenient. The sentence was initially set by the trial judge at four years with the final 18 months suspended but the Court of Appeal held that the appropria

The High Court has quashed a sentence for burglary on the basis that the trial judge erred by refusing to allow counsel an opportunity to take instructions from their client. The defendant had pleaded guilty to stealing €5,000 from a house in at a hearing in 2021. Delivering judgment in the cas

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has upheld a 19-year prison sentence for offences committed by a father against his 12-day-old son. The court accepted that this was a stiff sentence, but found it reasonable given the nature of the acts in question, and given the appellant’s lack of re

The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal brought by an accused who claimed that the Court of Appeal failed to consider the totality principle in his case. The man had successfully argued in the Court of Appeal that the trial judge had erred in sentencing him for several indecent assault offences, but

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has determined that the appropriate sentence for a violent repeat rapist was 18 years, with an additional five-year extended custodial sentence. In reaching this decision, the court was conscious of the violence of the attack, the appellant’s attempts t

Westminster's justice committee has called on the UK government to re-sentence all prisoners subject to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences. In a report published today, the committee finds that the current regime for managing IPP prisoners is inadequate in supporting their specific n

A Northern Ireland Crown Court, sitting at Laganside Courthouse, determined that a murderer must wait 20 years before being eligible for parole. This was based on the defendant’s lies regarding how his girlfriend had died, and the general lack of remorse shown by the defendant.

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has denied a reduction in sentence for claims about personal mitigating circumstances and delay where the appellant was responsible for an explosion at a police station in 1997. The appellant, Paul Campbell, was unsuccessful in his appeal against conviction f