The Court of Appeal has reduced James Davy’s sentence from nine years to eight years for impeding the apprehension or prosecution of another in connection with the murder of Toddy Dooley.
In a judgment delivered on 20 June 2023, the court quashed the sentence imposed by the Central Criminal Court and substituted an eight-year prison term, backdated to the same date as the original sentence: 24 November 2014. The judgment does not state a new direction deeming the sentence served or setting a release date.
Davy and two others were convicted of murder in 2016. In July 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed Davy’s murder conviction and substituted a conviction under section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997, which concerns impeding the apprehension or prosecution of another. The matter was sent back to the Central Criminal Court for sentencing.
At the sentencing hearing, the Central Criminal Court imposed nine years, backdated to 24 November 2014, and deemed the sentence served. The appeal concerned the severity of that sentence. Davy argued that the discount from the ten-year statutory maximum was inadequate given his early offer to plead guilty to the section 7(2) offence, his mental health history, expressions of remorse and progress while in custody.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the offending warranted a headline sentence of ten years, but said this was not an exceptional case in which the maximum should be imposed after an early plea. It concluded that a ten per cent reduction was insufficient. Taking account of the early plea offer and the other mitigating factors, the court said the discount should be at least 20 per cent.
The court also noted that Davy had not discouraged the sentencing judge from taking a time-served approach. It said the period he spent in custody had, in effect, been affected by the delay in bringing his appeal against the murder conviction. The court nevertheless addressed the sentence on its merits and substituted eight years. Its order changed the sentence; the judgment does not set out a separate release direction.