Sophie Stevens’ client was sentenced to a 3 year community order, having pleaded guilty to one offence of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one offence of causing or inciting a child to watch a sexual activity, two offences of meeting a child following grooming and three further related offences that took place between 2022-23.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge found that there had been an unjustifiable delay in the case and agreed with the categorisation of the offending put forward by Sophie. The judge took a starting point of 54 months, and after considering credit for guilty plea and mitigation, the sentence was reduced to 30 months imprisonment.
The judge went on to find that there were significant factors of mitigation, and the risk of re-offending had significantly reduced. As a result, he was persuaded to impose a 3 year community order with unpaid work and rehabilitation requirements instead of a sentence of imprisonment.
Sophie was instructed by Michael Strauss of Shaw Graham Kersh.
