Indeterminate sentence imposed in 2006 quashed by Court of Appeal

Wed, 26 Nov 2014

James Dixon appeared successfully in the Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Fulford, Mr Justice Hamblen and HHJ Wait) today, 26 November 2014. The Appellant, Alex Li AKA Porya Sahampour, was sentenced to a sentence of Detention for Public Protection (an indeterminate sentence) on 26 June 2006 at the Crown Court at Bolton in respect of robbery offences and assault, committed when he was just 15 and 16 years of age respectively. James was instructed to advise on the prospects of an out of time appeal, this being another case in which a prisoner was languishing in prison.  In quashing the sentence and replacing it with an extended sentence, the Court (Hamblen J giving judgment) endorsed the observations of the Court in the case of R v Venables [2014] EWCA Crim 659 (in which James was also Counsel) as to the hopelessness that an indeterminate sentence can engender in young people.

James Dixon was instructed by Mr Robert Welsh, Consultant Solicitor with Carringtons Solicitors. 

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