Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of victims that contacted the CPS to make a unduly lenient sentence referral had that referral rejected for being outside the 28 day time limit from the point of sentencing.

Unfortunately, the CPS does not hold this information. The 28-day statutory time limit is absolute; the statute provides no power to extend or to apply for leave to refer sentences to the Court of Appeal out of time. I very much welcome the introduction of the new Victim’s Code which was introduced on 1 April 2021 and which places an obligation on Witness Care Officers to notify victims about the unduly lenient sentence scheme.