When considering whether there were exceptional circumstances to disapply the five-year minimum term of imprisonment for firearms offences the court had to give careful scrutiny to the particular facts of each case and not try to distinguish the facts of other cases. There were no exceptional circumstances where the offender had received a bag from a violent man without enquiry, even though she was unaware of its contents and had been drunk at the time.

CA (Crim Div) (Sir John Thomas (President QBD) , Swift J, MacDuff J)

21/02/2013