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Sentencing question (firearms offence)?
Can someone help? My Dad was arrested and will be in court on tuesday with possesion of an AK47, Ammunition, other guns and knives (he collected them), stealing £800 from his work (he was then fired) and 2 counts of having someone elses prescription drugs. Can someone guess (your guess is better than mine) what he will be sentanced with? Is he facing prison? Im so worried but please tell me your honest answers, thank you
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your dad sounds like a tw@ and deserves to be put away for a long time. you don't just 'collect' firearms - they are illegal in this country for a reason. you never steal from your employer; it's akin to *** on your own doorstep and posession of others prescription drugs (esp. if they are substances like diazepam, methodone etc.) are class a drugs. he's goin' down....for a loooooong time and i think you and your immediate family are better off without such a dangerous person in your midst.
(2-part post):
If it's your Dad's first court appearance on Tuesday, probably very little will happen as the magistrates will need to refer the case to the Crown Court. There will be another month or so before the committal hearing (again in the magistrates' court), followed by a likely delay of several months before the Crown Court hearings start. (There are likely to be several hearings before the sentencing stage. The whole process typically takes around 9 months but the time span varies greatly across the country).
As Eddie's link indicates, Section 287 of the Criminal Justice Act normally imposes a minimum 5 year jail term upon adult offenders convicted of most types of firearms offences. However the law actually states "The court shall impose an appropriate custodial sentence (or order for detention) for a term of at least the required minimum term (with or without a fine) unless the court is of the opinion that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the offence or to the offender which justify its not doing so." With most types of offence judges are usually reluctant to find that there are 'exceptional circumstances' but the judiciary seem to have taken a dim view of politicians telling them how to do their jobs, so quite a high proportion of firearms offenders still receive a sentence of less than 5 years on the grounds of 'exceptional circumstances'. If the judge is wholly convinced that your father only held the weapons as a collector (with no intent to use them, or to supply them to others who might use them) he might consider that 'exceptional circumstances' apply.
If it's your Dad's first court appearance on Tuesday, probably very little will happen as the magistrates will need to refer the case to the Crown Court. There will be another month or so before the committal hearing (again in the magistrates' court), followed by a likely delay of several months before the Crown Court hearings start. (There are likely to be several hearings before the sentencing stage. The whole process typically takes around 9 months but the time span varies greatly across the country).
As Eddie's link indicates, Section 287 of the Criminal Justice Act normally imposes a minimum 5 year jail term upon adult offenders convicted of most types of firearms offences. However the law actually states "The court shall impose an appropriate custodial sentence (or order for detention) for a term of at least the required minimum term (with or without a fine) unless the court is of the opinion that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the offence or to the offender which justify its not doing so." With most types of offence judges are usually reluctant to find that there are 'exceptional circumstances' but the judiciary seem to have taken a dim view of politicians telling them how to do their jobs, so quite a high proportion of firearms offenders still receive a sentence of less than 5 years on the grounds of 'exceptional circumstances'. If the judge is wholly convinced that your father only held the weapons as a collector (with no intent to use them, or to supply them to others who might use them) he might consider that 'exceptional circumstances' apply.
It's likely that the other matters will result in concurrent sentences, so it's really only the firearms charges which are the ones to worry about. If your father is VERY lucky (with an exceptional barrister) his defence team might successfully play the 'exceptional circumstances card and keep the sentence down to, say, 3 years. Otherwise (as long as the judge is convinced that neither your father nor anyone else would ever use the weapons) a sentence of 5 to 6 years seems likely. (If the prosecution persuades the judge that your father was acting as an arms dealer, 8 to 12 years would seem more likely).
The actual time served in prison is normally half of the sentence period for sentences of up to 4 years. For longer sentences the offender can apply to be released at the half-way point but will only get out of prison if it's deemed safe to release him. (Otherwise he'd be kept in prison until two-thirds of the way through the sentence period).
Chris
The actual time served in prison is normally half of the sentence period for sentences of up to 4 years. For longer sentences the offender can apply to be released at the half-way point but will only get out of prison if it's deemed safe to release him. (Otherwise he'd be kept in prison until two-thirds of the way through the sentence period).
Chris
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(sorry if this isnt how you add details - first time user of answerbank)
Urghh. oh my god... so its not looking good... Hes an idiot.. An absolute idiot. Hes always been stupid and i spent my childhood being a parent to him but this is something else..
Yes he has been arrested before - From recent memory about 6 times in the past ten years, but one of them was he stabbed my big brother in the back during a drunken fight and they (my brother and my dad) started a fight in town and it was described as "10 minutes of extreme violence" So........it doesnt look good...
Hes 50 next month - will they take his age into account? Or could he still face the possibity of only being released when hes 75??
As for his collection, He bought them himself - from army shops and he has a bizarre friend that sells him all kinds of knives...and apparantly guns... (that was when i moved out, the knives hes collected for years the guns is a new one)
the pills are painkillers that his friend gave him - but they were in someone elses name and quite strong ones.
Oh no, Hes at home - He goes to the crown court on Tuesday, but hes very cagey with whats happened in the other court.
i cant believe the mess hes got himself into - no one can pull him out of this one.
Thank you for your answers so far, Theyre very appricated and helpful.
Urghh. oh my god... so its not looking good... Hes an idiot.. An absolute idiot. Hes always been stupid and i spent my childhood being a parent to him but this is something else..
Yes he has been arrested before - From recent memory about 6 times in the past ten years, but one of them was he stabbed my big brother in the back during a drunken fight and they (my brother and my dad) started a fight in town and it was described as "10 minutes of extreme violence" So........it doesnt look good...
Hes 50 next month - will they take his age into account? Or could he still face the possibity of only being released when hes 75??
As for his collection, He bought them himself - from army shops and he has a bizarre friend that sells him all kinds of knives...and apparantly guns... (that was when i moved out, the knives hes collected for years the guns is a new one)
the pills are painkillers that his friend gave him - but they were in someone elses name and quite strong ones.
Oh no, Hes at home - He goes to the crown court on Tuesday, but hes very cagey with whats happened in the other court.
i cant believe the mess hes got himself into - no one can pull him out of this one.
Thank you for your answers so far, Theyre very appricated and helpful.
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