help please : about driving

[snk55555]

somebody i know has driven a few times without a license they have done lots of community service and last year was sentenced to driver whilst disqualified and was sentenced to 6months in prison they served half the sentence and had 18 day early release.

they was then caught driving again, its no excuse iknow and they're on license and i was just wondering does anyone know what they could be sentenced to now please.

[doglady]

They will be recalled to custody and have to serve the rest of their sentence.

[Buenchico]

Driving while disqualified is a 'summary only' offence, so the maximum penalty is 6 months imprisonment.

The offender has breached their licence, so they'll be returned to prison to serve the rest of the term. So that's 3 months in prison (which won't be halved or eligible for early release). He'll also be sentenced for the latest offence, which will almost certainly mean another 6 month sentence (of which half will be served, before release on licence). It's extremely likely that the sentences will be served consecutively, rather than concurrently, so that means that the offender will be in prison for a total of 6 months before being released on licence.

Chris

[snk55555]

so they will definitly serve 6months. is that like the maximum they could get or is that a definite??

so if they have caught in a few days they will be gone for 6months??

[snk55555]

they were also told that is they plead guilty to drivng 30% of their sentence will be taken off.. wa wil this mean

[Buenchico]

For breaching their licence, they'll have to serve the remainder of the original sentence, so that's 3 months in prison. The new sentence might be reduced for an early guilty plea, so it might be around 4 months instead of 6 months. If so, they'll serve half that time (i.e. 2 months) after they've finished the original sentence. In which case, they'll actually be in prison for 5 months, instead of 6.

Chris

[snk55555]

iv just heard that the police have not said that that they have breached any license. so if it is not coming up at the police station does that mean they definitly arent on license? in that case would they not serve the rest of the previous sentence?? sorry im just a little confused by all of this. thank you so much for all this help your giving me though its much apreciated

[Buenchico]

From the date that the offender was sentenced, last year, they are (or were) officially serving their sentence for a full 6 month period. (i.e. even when they were released from prison, they were still technically serving part of the 6 month sentence, but on licence).

If they were sentenced in, say, February last year, their licence would have expired during October, so any recent offence would not be a breach of their licence. However, if they were sentenced, say, in November, their licence would not expire until May, so any recent offence would breach that licence.

So, if the date of the most recent offence was within 6 months or the date that they were originally sentenced, they'll be recalled to prison. Otherwise, they won't. (I'm assuming that the offender was not held in custody prior to the court case, which would seem to be unlikely).

Chris

[snk55555]

no they are actaully being held for 2days until the court case. is this a bad thing. its such a stressful situation. just worried about the outcome.

[Buenchico]

Well, you've not told me when they were sentenced last year, so I don't know whether they're still on licence or not. However, it's unusual for someone who's not on licence to be kept in custody until a court case for driving without a licence. (The police or the court have to be able to give a reason why bail has not been granted. The only relevant one that comes to mind, if the offender is not on licence, might be that they think he might offend again while on bail).

However, if someone breaches a prison release licence they can be sent straight back to prison. If that's the case, the offender is being held in custody, effectively as part of the remainder of the sentence which he must now serve.

Chris

[snk55555]

i think it was in october. im nt sure......(last year)

[Buenchico]

Well, if the sentence was passed in October (and the offender hadn't already served time in prison on remand), that sentence will end some time during this month. (i.e. that's when the licence period will end). So it seems likely that the licence has been breached, so the offender will have to serve the remainder of the original sentence (3 months, all of which will be in prison) followed by the new sentence (4 to 6 months, of which half will be in prison). So, as previously stated, the offender will actually serve around 5 or 6 months in prison.

Chris

[snk55555]

i know this might sound really stupid but do you think there is any chance that instead of anothr custodial sentence they might receive tagging ????? i just heard that there could be a chance because the prisons are full.

is it depending on the judge?

[Buenchico]

Breaching a prison release licence almost automatically means that the offender will be returned to prison to complete their sentence. Any element of doubt is effectively removed if the breach involves an offence similar to the original one.

So, assuming that the offender is on licence, a return to prison for 3 months seems to be inevitable. The court will have no discretion since they're not actually sentencing the offender, they're simply ordering that the sentence which was originally passed must be completed.

With regard to the most recent offence, it would seem unlikely that the court would consider a non-custodial option (to follow on from the 3 months which will be served because of the breach), since the offender has failed to improve his behaviour after previous non-custodial sentences.

I think the best you might hope for is that the court could decide to order that the new sentence should run concurrently with the remainder of the old one. In which case, only 3 months would be served in prison.

Chris

[snk55555]

i have been to the police station and there is no charge of breaching a license. just driving whislt disqualified. so is this a good thing... is abou 3 months wa they are looking at if they never breached anything. x