Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many of the cases referred to her Department under the unduly lenient sentence scheme were received before the 28th day after sentence time period had elapsed but outside office hours and where his office did not re-open until after that 28 day deadline had passed; and what proportion of those cases were (a) accepted and (b) refused in each of the last five years for which information is available.

2015 – of the 14 sentences that were received out of time only 1 was received on the 28th day and too late for it to be actioned.

2016 – of the 28 sentences that were received out of time only 1 was received on the 28th day and too late for it to be actioned.

2017 - of the 27 sentences that were received out of time only 1 was received on the 28th day and too late for it to be actioned.

2018 - of the 31 sentences that were received out of time 2 were received on the 28th day and too late for them to be actioned.

2019 - of the 43 sentences that were received out of time only 1 was received on the 28th day and too late for it to be actioned.

Whilst referrals for sentences are received and actioned on the 28^th day, those are cases that are received early enough on the day to be actioned. An unduly lenient sentence case can only be taken forward if either myself or the Attorney General has approved action (on the basis of a complete prosecution file and proper legal advice) and an application has been filed with the Court of Appeal before the expiry of the statutory 28 day deadline. None of the above cases were accepted as being within time by my office as they were received too late to be actioned and consequently they were all marked as out of time.

A referral to the Court of Appeal for consideration of a sentence as unduly lenient must be made within 28 days of the date of the sentence as set out in Schedule 3, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The 28 day statutory time limit is absolute; the statute provides no power to extend the time limit or to apply for leave to refer out of time.