Second-six pupil Lea Levine successful in appeal against sentence at the Court of Appeal.

Lea Levine, instructed by Lumb & Macgill solicitors, appeared with leave for the Appellant at the Court of Appeal, who was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on 12 May 2025 to an immediate term of imprisonment for 20 months, for a single count of child cruelty.

The Appellant had pleaded guilty at her first appearance for an assault on her 15-year-old son.

The single ground of appeal was that the Judge had failed to give sufficient weight to the Appellant’s substantial mitigation and should have suspended the sentence of imprisonment.

The Appellant was lightly convicted, with a bright career ahead of her. She had stable accommodation and other significant personal mitigation such as a troubled childhood and abusive intimate relationship, as well as genuine remorse and an early guilty plea. It was accepted that the Appellant had made every effort to address the offending behaviour and that given the damage she had caused to her relationship with her son would continue to burden her that immediate custody was not therefore a necessary punishment. Ultimately, Lea’s submissions were underpinned by the clear prospect of rehabilitation within the community.

In their judgement, the Court of Appeal praised Lea’s “attractive submissions” and quashed the sentence of 20 months imprisonment, substituting a suspended sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment with community requirements.

Authors

Lea Levine

Call 2022

Related areas

Crime

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