Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2
B E F O R E:
LORD JUSTICE GAGE
MRS JUSTICE DOBBS DBE
HIS HONOUR JUDGE METTYEAR
(Sitting as a Judge of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division)
R E G I N A
-v-
CARLOS LUI VOARINO
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MISS L MUIR-WILSON appeared on behalf of the APPELLANT
J U D G M E N T
MRS JUSTICE DOBBS: On 17th March 2006, at the Snaresbrook Crown Court, this appellant pleaded guilty to one count of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a class A drug, namely cocaine, and was sentenced to six years' detention in a young offender institution with 115 days spent on remand to count towards sentence.
He renews his application for leave to appeal against sentence after refusal by the single judge. This Full Court has now given leave to appeal.
On 20th November 2005 the applicant arrived at Waterloo International station. He was intercepted by Customs and asked a number of questions. He said he knew it was illegal to bring drugs into the country but that he was not carrying any. He said he was going to stay with his girlfriend for a few days. His suitcase was examined. The interior was removed and inside was found 11,800 ecstasy tablets with a street value of £47,200. They weighed a total of 2.96 kilogrammes; the equivalent of 384 grammes of MDMA at 100 per cent purity.
When interviewed, he said he had not been able to get work in Italy (he is an Italian national) and had been short of money. Someone in the Dominican Republic said they could help and gave him a telephone number. Having made contact, he travelled first to Paris, then Luxembourg where he met a man who gave him a suitcase. They then travelled to Brussels and he was given a ticket to London. He would have been met by someone and would have been paid 5,000 euros. He was a man of previous good character.
When sentencing the judge noted that the importation of class A drugs was taken very seriously in this country. The starting point was eight years. He was caught in the act and the evidence was overwhelming, but he made admissions immediately and gave details to Customs and Excise. A 25 per cent discount for that guilty plea would be given, reducing the sentence to six years less the time spent on remand.
The ground of appeal is that the judge erred in not reducing the starting point to reflect fully the guilty pleas and mitigation and therefore the sentence was manifestly excessive.
The remarks of the sentencing judge are somewhat confusing, but it is clear that full credit was not given for the plea of guilty because the applicant was caught red-handed. This was a case where the appellant made full admissions in interview and told the authorities what he could about the importation. He could have, as many do, contested the matter and spun some story about how the drugs must have been put into his suitcase.
Under the guidelines presently in force a defendant is entitled to full credit for a plea of guilty, even when caught red-handed, since, as indicated by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, the purpose is to encourage those who are guilty to plead at the earliest opportunity. There is no reason according to the guidelines why credit should be withheld or reduced on those grounds alone.
We intend, therefore, to allow this appeal against sentence. We will quash the sentence of six years' detention and substitute one of five years' detention less the 115 days spent on remand.