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Paperwork from the court

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Rainbow

Member since
January 2019

282 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 9:03amReport post

Hi

Does anyone know if we get papers from the court which explains the conviction/sentence and how they decided on what sentence to be given?

My husband has only been given 1 sheet saying what the sentence is but no further details of why and how etc.

Thanks

Jaded

Member since
December 2018

202 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 9:14amReport post

Hi Rainbow,

im not sure what paperwork the court provide or if what you have is it. Your husband can ask for a copy of what was discussed in court though. Court discussions are recorded and then typed up word for word. If that helps you to understand what has happened it’s really very useful. The Judge would have made some comment as to how they came to their decision and this would have been recorded.

The police will be visiting your husband soon to begin their monitoring activities. They should explain what’s involved but it’s important he reads carefully what’s on the order from the court. He should be given a copy of the order via his solicitors or the police.

As far as sentencing is concerned the Judge would (should) have followed the sentencing guidelines for this particular offence. This would have taken into account any aggravating or mitigation factors in the offence. If you can find this (you should be able to get a copy on the Internet)

Rainbow

Member since
January 2019

282 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 9:30amReport post

Thanks who would I ask for a copy?

I've tried looking at guidelines for sentencing but can't really work it out.

Big sigh

Member since
December 2018

244 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 1:14pmReport post

Hi Rainbow, I’ve looked at the sentencing guidelines too. If you read them a few times they sort of make sense and leave discretion for the judge in between. I have also read other stuff about when they changed the guidelines and why. So it seems that number of images in the past mattered. But now it doesn’t matter so much as the increasing bandwidth on the internet means people can have hundreds of images very easily, whereas that wasn’t the case in the past. So only having a few images is seen he same as as having 100 images. It seems the nature of the images (the category they are in) matters more but if there is only one cat a and the majority are lower then the person shouldn’t get punished as if they are all cat a, but it would be taken into account that there was a cat a image on there.

Then there are reductions in sentence for certain things (like guilty plea, previous good character etc) and increases due to others (looking at them over long period, images of children you know, saying you are not guilty, etc)

justice is not blind either, so in court how your partner appeared would have mattered (shouldn’t but it does) and how good your barrister was x

Jaded

Member since
December 2018

202 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 7:01pmReport post

Rainbow if you contact the court office they will tell you how to get a transcription of the court hearing you want. Otherwise contact your area CPS office, they will be able to help. There is a cost to this though so find out how much that costs from them first.

Jono1

Member since
December 2018

46 posts

Posted Thu February 21, 2019 7:10pmReport post

Hi rainbow.. we had the same problem.. we harrased our barrister till it was sent.. took 2 full weeks tho... xx