Attorney General's Reference Nos. 153 of 2004 and 14 & 2 of 2005

Facts

The Attorney General applied under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for leave to refer three sentences for rape which he considered unduly lenient, each illustrating a different setting. Justin Phipps, aged 33, was convicted at the Crown Court at Swindon on 23 November 2004 of three rapes and three offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his partner ES, committed in early 2003 against a background of sustained domestic violence and at a time when she was pregnant and then recovering from a termination; he received seven years' imprisonment in total. B, aged 16 at the time, pleaded guilty at the Crown Court at Warwick to four burglaries and an attempted burglary, asking for fourteen further burglaries to be taken into consideration, and later pleaded guilty at the plea and directions hearing on 17 January 2005 to rape of a child under 13 contrary to section 5(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, having dragged a 12 year old stranger into a field, punched her repeatedly and threatened to kill her; he received six years' detention in total under section 91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. Parvinder Basra, aged 35, was convicted at the Crown Court at Minshull Street, Manchester of two rapes contrary to section 1(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, indecent assault and supplying a Class C drug contrary to section 4(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, having laced his victim's drinks with GHB; he received four years' imprisonment in total.