Time’s up for compensation loophole

Friday 20 June 2014

A loophole that allows criminals to serve an extra eight-month prison sentence to avoid paying court-ordered compensation that could run to many thousands of pounds is going to be fixed by the Chief Minister.

Under the law as it stands, the Royal Court can order the payment of compensation by anyone convicted of a crime. Although those compensation orders are unlimited - orders of up to £60,000 have been handed out in the past – the default sentence for anyone who does not pay is capped.

In the Magistrate’s Court the cap is six months, and in the Royal Court the cap is a year.

But that means that someone ordered to pay a huge compensation order of, say, £100,000 could decide to spend another eight months (a 12-month sentence, minus the typical one-third discount for good behaviour) in prison, and walk out without having to pay a penny.

An amendment to the law proposed by Chief Minister Ian Gorst would increase the cap on default sentences in the Magistrate’s Court to 12 months, and remove the cap entirely in the Royal Court, closing the loophole.

His proposition, lodged with the States today, follows concerns raised by Attorney General Tim Le Cocq QC and a review by the Legislation Advisory Panel.

The report accompanying the proposition says that the question of a default sentence should be left to the court.

It says: “The Legislation Advisory Panel could see no reason why the hands of the Royal Court should be tied in this way, and concluded that the length of the default sentence could properly be left to the discretion of the Royal Court. Under Article 6 of the 1994 Law, a defendant has a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal against a default sentence, and therefore is able to challenge a default sentence if he or she believes it to be excessive.”