A 20-year-old man has been told he can appeal his prison sentence for sexual offences because it might be “manifestly excessive”.
Ben Frank Spruce from St Peter Port was sentenced to 15 years and 5 months in prison earlier this year after he committed sexual crimes against 10 victims, including eight girls and two boys under the age of 16.
Spruce, who was a teenager when the offences occurred, was found guilty of five sexual offences during a trial in March before being sentenced in May.
Less than two weeks after being sentenced, his defence advocate had lodged the appeal paperwork with the Royal Court.
Advocate Chris Green argued that “the total sentence imposed was manifestly excessive” and that “the Royal Court adopted starting points for certain of the offences that were too high”.
A “starting point” for a sentence means the maximum that could be imposed before deductions are made for various reasons including any mitigation for their offending, including the age of the perpetrator.
In Spruce’s case, Advocate Green also suggested the court had imposed consecutive sentences when they should have been concurrent and that the court had failed to apply the totality principle. Together this meant that Spruce’s sentence was longer than it needed to be, argued Advocate Green.
The Bailiff dismissed some of Advocate Green’s points at the outset – and some he argued were not relevant.
However, the Bailiff did agree that the sentence of 15 years and 5 months was “a very long period for a person who had just turned 20”.
Sir Richard McMahon said that “this was a set of serious sexual offending over a period of time” and that it was “inevitable that this offending would attract a substantial custodial sentence”.
But, in conclusion, the Bailiff decided that “in combination I consider that the overall sentence imposed might be capable of being viewed as manifestly excessive and conclude that leave should be granted”.
This means Spruce is able to appeal his sentence with another court hearing to be arranged where arguments on both sides can be heard again.