In an appeal against sentence for one offence of ill-treating a patient, the offence was not so serious as to have passed the custody threshold and, in the circumstances, the justice of the case would have been best met by ordering a community service penalty. As the appellant had served two months in prison, the four-month custodial sentence was quashed and substituted with a 12-month conditional discharge.

CA (Crim Div) (Buckley J, Gage J)

04/08/2000