Sentence reduced upon appeal

Sarah Jones has successfully appealed a sentence of 26 years’ imprisonment for offences of rape against two young girls in the court of appeal on the case of R v Nash. The court of appeal accepted Defence submissions that although the offending had been extremely serious against the younger sisters of the Defendant’s wife a sentence of 26 years’ was too long and the Court of Appeal reduced it by 4 years to 22 years.

The Defendant had groomed his wife’s sisters when they were between the age of 10 and 15 years old over a period of about two years. He showed them indecent images of children to encourage them to engage in sexual acts with him and in respect of the youngest sister repeatedly tried to vaginally and anally rape her, having to stop on one occasion when she screamed and his wife was nearly alerted.