The Case

In the instant case, concurrent sentences of four years and nine months' detention in a young offender institution were quashed and substituted with concurrent sentences of four years' detention, in respect of a robbery of a general convenience store that had been committed with a co-accused, and in which 376 and a quantity of lottery cards had been stolen. The defendant's offending had been near the top of the range in seriousness under 'level 2' of the Sentencing Guidelines Council's sentencing guidelines, but not at the very top. Although the offending had been committed at night, the facts that there was a strong element of planning, the use of replica firearms and disguises, and that the victims were vulnerable persons; the defendant had had no relevant history of offending, his work record was good, and he had expressed real remorse and a sense of shame.