The Court of Appeal has upheld life sentences imposed on B.W. for 24 counts of rape involving two younger family members, dismissing his appeal against sentence on 3 July 2026.
B.W. had been sentenced to life imprisonment on each count on 13 November 2023. He was convicted after a joint trial involving five accused of two counts of rape of his granddaughter and 22 counts involving his nephew. His separate appeal against conviction had already been dismissed in December 2025.
B.W. argued that life imprisonment was excessive because he was 66 at sentencing, had health problems and was already serving a 16-year sentence for sexual abuse of two daughters. He also submitted that the offences in the two prosecutions overlapped in time and might have attracted a lesser overall punishment had they been dealt with together.
The Director of Public Prosecutions opposed the appeal, arguing that the offending was at the highest end of seriousness and involved profound breaches of trust within the family.
Delivering judgment, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the case involved exceptional circumstances in which life imprisonment was within the sentencing judge's discretion. The court identified the victims' young ages, prolonged offending, violence, humiliation, abuse of a dominant family position and B.W.'s 99 previous convictions for sexual offending against two daughters as significant aggravating factors.
The court also rejected the argument that separate prosecutions caused unfairness. Both sentences had been backdated to 18 June 2019, and the judges said consecutive sentencing could not have been ruled out even if all offences had been prosecuted together.
B.W.'s age and health provided little mitigation, the court found. His medical issues could be managed in custody, and the seriousness of the offending required a substantial sentence.
The sentence appeal was therefore dismissed, leaving the life sentences in place.