Mullins, Dean

Dean Mullins, who was 24 at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in October 2006 at Leeds Crown Court. He received a sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) with a minimum term of four years and six months, less 162 days spent on remand.

Mr Mullins tried unsuccessfully to appeal against his sentence in 2007. He applied to the CCRC in November 2025.

Reviewing this case, the CCRC considered the impact of recent Court of Appeal judgments, in particular R v Williams [2024] EWCA Crim 686 and R v Davis & Others [2026] EWCA Crim 743 and concluded that there was a real possibility the Court would find that the sentencing judges did not give sufficient weight to the age and immaturity of Mr Mullins when assessing his dangerousness and future risk.

The Court had recently overturned several similar IPP/DPP sentences. On 23 April 2026, two CCRC referrals were allowed and the sentences quashed, together with those in three other indeterminate sentence cases, which were not CCRC referrals; see the indeterminate sentences of five IPP/DPP prisoners were quashed.

The CCRC referred the sentence in July 2026.