In all cases where a court was contemplating sentencing any defendant to prison for the first time, a pre-sentence report was required before such a sentence was passed. The obtaining of such information was to be regarded as the rule and should only be departed from if the sentence contemplated was either extremely short or where the judge was specifically requested on behalf of the defendant to proceed to sentencing immediately.

CA (Crim Div) (Auld LJ, Wright J, Judge Mellor)

28/10/1999