The Court of Appeal has quashed a 10-year prison sentence imposed on Stephen Geraghty for a 2004 drugs offence after finding that the wrong sentencing law had been applied.
Geraghty had faced two charges under section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act, relating to offences committed in November 2003 and May 2004. He later absconded while on bail and was re-arrested in 2009.
He pleaded guilty to both charges in February 2010. In December 2011, he received two years for the first offence and a consecutive 10-year sentence for the second. Only the 10-year term was appealed.
At sentencing, both prosecution and defence proceeded on the basis that legislation introduced in 2007 required a minimum 10-year sentence because Geraghty had been convicted of the earlier section 15A offence.
The Court of Appeal found two legal errors in that approach.
First, the enhanced sentencing provisions introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2007 did not apply retrospectively to an offence committed in 2004. The court said a person is entitled to be punished according to the law in force when the crime was committed unless legislation clearly provides otherwise. No such retrospective intention appeared in the 2007 Act.
Second, the court held that the later repeat-offender provision would not have applied in any event. A “second or subsequent” offence under that provision requires an earlier conviction to have occurred before the later offence was committed. Geraghty had committed both offences before being convicted of either.
The DPP accepted both points at the resumed appeal hearing but argued that the 10-year sentence could nevertheless be allowed to stand as proportionate. The court rejected that submission because of the nature of the legal errors.
The 10-year sentence was quashed. Geraghty remained in custody pending a fresh sentencing hearing fixed for December 15. The separate two-year sentence for the 2003 offence was not under appeal and remained untouched.