The Court of Criminal Appeal increased the concurrent sentences imposed on Ian Horgan for rape and manslaughter from eight years to 12 years, after finding an error of principle in the original sentencing. The court made the substituted sentences concurrent and backdated them to 10 September 2001.
The Director of Public Prosecutions applied under section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 to review the sentences imposed after Horgan’s 2006 retrial. The jury had found him not guilty of murdering Rachel Kiely but guilty of manslaughter and rape. The original sentences were eight years on each count, concurrent, with six years suspended and the terms to run from 10 March 2006.
The Court of Criminal Appeal said the trial judge had not adequately addressed how each offence aggravated the other. It held that the rape was aggravated by the dangerous neck restraint used against Kiely, and that the manslaughter was committed during the rape. The court said that connection placed the offences in the most severe category and required a severe sentence.
The court also considered the plea Horgan entered at the start of the second trial: guilty to manslaughter, while maintaining his not-guilty plea to rape. It gave the plea limited weight in light of the history of the case, including his sworn denial of involvement at the first trial. The court likewise treated the apology he made after the verdicts as having limited value.
In deciding the replacement sentence, the court said it remained mindful of Horgan’s age, 16 at the time of the offences, and sought to leave some prospect of rehabilitation and return to society. It said educational opportunities in prison should continue.
The court expressly did not take into account the significance of Horgan’s 2005 convictions for other offences committed while he was on bail, beyond the trial judge’s treatment of them as raising doubts about rehabilitation. It said the prosecution had not addressed that point in oral submissions and the relevant later decision in DPP v Dwyer had not been available to the trial judge or cited by prosecution counsel.