Minimum terms
High Court setting of minimum terms for mandatory life sentences under the Criminal Justice Act 2003
Neutral Citation Number: 2008 EWHC 1672 (QB)
Case No: 2004 /392/ MTR
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
Date: 28/07/08
Before:
THE HON MR JUSTICE DAVID STEEL
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Between:
Regina
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MARK ANTHONY BAKER
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APPROVED JUDGMENT
I direct that no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic
MARK ANTHONY BAKER
JASON POWER
Mandatory life sentence
Setting of minimum terms pursuant to schedule 22 Criminal Justice Act 2003
On 16 October 2001, at Manchester Crown Court, the defendants were convicted of the murder of Tariq Javed.
On 9 November 2000 the defendants and two younger youths, after celebrating Baker’s birthday, hired a taxi to take them home. During the journey they decided to make off without paying the fare and attempted to do so when the taxi came to a halt. When Tariq Javed, the taxi driver, remonstrated the defendants pulled him out of his taxi, kicked him and stamped on him so violently as to cause his head to strike the roadway and sustain a fractured skull from which he died. Both then got into the taxi which Baker drove to the grounds of a nearby hospital, having reversed over the body of the inert Tariq Javed. There it was set on fire.
The relevant factors pertaining to Baker are that, at 21 years old, he has several convictions for dishonesty and car interference, but only one for violence, a common assault in July 1999. The evidence shows that Baker started the attack and played a lesser role in the kicking and stamping. He expressed no remorse in court for what had happened, simply denying any criminal involvement.
In relation to Power, it is of note that he is 30 years old and has many convictions for dishonesty and some for minor violence and public order offences, including affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 1998 and 1999, for which he received short prison sentences. On the evidence, it was clear that Power was principal perpetrator of the attack. He accepted that he was at least guilty of manslaughter and expressed considerable remorse for his actions.
In my judgment, balancing the above factors and the trial judge’s conclusion that the basis of the jury verdict was an intention to cause grievous bodily harm and not to kill, the appropriate tariff is, having regard to his age and his progress in prison, 12 years for Baker.
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