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Drug supplier likely to get three months off his sentence due to sentencing miscalculation

Published:

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred a man’s sentence for a drug supply offence to the Court of Appeal because the judge made an error when calculating his sentence.

Anthony Barrett, 60, was convicted at Northampton Crown Court in April 2021 of conspiracy to supply a class A drug. He was sentenced in February 2024, nearly three years after his arrest.

During sentencing, the judge said: “I consider the appropriate sentence, prior to any credit for plea, is ten years.” He then applied a 25 per cent discount for Mr Barrett’s guilty plea and reduced his ten-year sentence to 7 years 9 months. He then applied a further 2 years 6 months discount for the delay in sentencing to arrive at 5 years 3 months.

In the CCRC’s view, a 25 per cent discount applied to the ten-year sentence should have reduced Mr Barrett’s sentence to 7 years 6 months, with the further deduction bringing his total sentence to 5 years.

Therefore, there is a real possibility the Court of Appeal will find that the judge made an error in the calculation of Mr Barrett’s sentence and will reduce it accordingly.

[ENDS] 

Notes to editors: 

  1. The CCRC is an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It is responsible for independently reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is based in Birmingham and is funded by the Ministry of Justice.     
  1. There are currently 16 Commissioners who bring to the CCRC considerable experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. Commissioners are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.  
  1. The CCRC usually receives around 1,600 applications for reviews (convictions and/or sentences) each year. Since starting work in 1997, the CCRC has referred around 3% of applications to the appeal courts.     
  1. The CCRC considers whether, as a result of new information or a new argument on a point of law, there is a real possibility that the sentence would not be upheld were a reference to be made. New information or argument on a point of law is argument or information which has not been raised during the original sentence hearing or on appeal.  Applicants should usually have appealed first. A sentence can be referred in the absence of an earlier appeal only if there are “exceptional circumstances”.    
  1. If a case is referred, it is then for the appeal court to decide whether the sentence should be changed.       
  1. More details about the role and work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission can be found at www.ccrc.gov.uk. The CCRC can be found on X, Facebook, Instagram (@the_ccrc) and Linkedin.