Tariffs

Wednesday 13 February 2002 - 10.00 am
Court 4
Royal Courts of Justice

The decision of the Lord Chief Justice on tariff in the case of Craig Roberts in accordance with the Practice Direction dated 27 July 2000
(The Times 9 August 2000)

1. Craig Roberts was born on 9 April 1982. On 29 July 1999 Roberts was convicted of murder and was sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure. At the time of the offence Roberts was aged 16 years 4 months, the offence being committed on 29 August 1998. His co-accused, Carl Harrison, was also convicted of murder and sentenced to custody for life. He was 19 years 2 months at the time of the offence. His tariff was set at 14 years by the Home Secretary.

Facts of the Offence

2. The facts are taken from the report of the trial judge to the Home Secretary. On 28 August 1998 Roberts was released from a young offenders institution. Roberts and Harrison spent the evening with their families at a public house. Thereafter they left and, with a stolen car, went in search of a girl who had been writing to Roberts whilst he was in custody. Their search was unsuccessful. They took the car to an area where they met up with the victim.

3. The victim, Simon Dawson, was a single man who was walking to a friend's home after having spent the evening at a night club. The victim lost his way and was walking in the wrong direction when Roberts and Harrison met up with him.

4. According to Roberts and Harrison, they purported to walk the victim in the right direction. Their route passed through a well-wooded park where they proceeded to attack and rob him. They alternately beat him and then sought to revive him and coax him into giving them the PIN number to his bank card. Eventually they were successful. Then, whilst he was probably unconscious, they threw or rolled him into a nearby pond, where he drowned. Roberts and Harrison then left the scene. They stole another car and used it to find a bank machine where they withdrew £500 with the victim's card. Before returning home, they burned the car in a secluded place.

5. At the time of the offence Roberts had been convicted of a number of robberies, though these were achieved by threats, and not violence.

6. The trial judge recommended a tariff of 16 years for his co-accused, but a tariff of 14 years for Roberts, mainly because of his age. The Lord Chief Justice recommended shorter terms because of the youth of the defendants. He indicated a tariff of 10 years for Roberts and 12 years in the case of Harrison. The Home Secretary has not set a tariff in this case.

Behaviour in Prison

7. In a report dated 27 October 1999, the probation officer concluded that although he was motivated and had a positive frame of mind, Roberts had "a lot of growing up to do".

8. A report produced by the sentence planning officer, dated 6 September 2000, noted that Roberts' general behaviour was good and that he excelled in a team building course.

9. However, a subsequent report dated 27 April 2001 indicated that Roberts' behaviour had been far from exemplary. He had "acquired 42 governors adjudications for prison in-discipline". The report noted that Roberts was placed in the segregation unit for allegedly taking another prisoner hostage. Whilst in the unit, he unsuccessfully tried to scale a wall. The report, authored by the senior officer, M Lowther, concluded as follows: "7.1 Craig [Roberts] is a very angry confused young man.
7.2 He is early into his sentence and I think he believes that he has nothing to lose by acting the way he does at the moment.
7.3 He desperately needs one-to-one work looking at his sexual abuse and his use of violence.
7.4 … ."

Representations on Roberts' behalf

10. Representations were made on Roberts' behalf on 22 May 2001. Subsequently, further representations were made by Roberts. In the earlier representations Roberts' solicitors submit that the tariff period should be reduced from 10 years to enable him to be released back into the community as soon as possible. The representations point out that Roberts' extensive criminal record is not as serious as it would first appear; a number of offences relate to street robberies without violence. The representations allude to Roberts' unsettled background. He was abused as a child and as a result, was placed in care, estranged from his mother and sister. The representations also aver that consideration should be given to Roberts' age, vulnerability and the influence upon him by his older co-accused. It is suggested that Harrison played a greater role in this murder, a crime which was not premeditated.

11. In the second set of representations it is argued that the senior officer, Lowther, who authored the unfavourable report of 27 April 2001, had a personal dislike for Roberts. Furthermore, it is contended that the alleged hostage taking incident referred to in that report should not be taken into consideration because the police investigation was discontinued and the Prison Service took no internal action. Roberts also expresses his sympathy for the victim's family and welcomes an opportunity to meet them in person. Once again, his difficult background is stressed as a factor that should be considered in mitigation.

The Victim's Family

12. The victim's family have been traumatised by his death. They are naturally anxious to ensure that there should be no question of Roberts' release before he has shown some remorse and until this can safely be done.

Conclusion

13. The only mitigating factor in this case is Robert's age. The former Lord Chief Justice gave full credit for this in recommending a tariff of 10 years instead of the trial judge's recommendation of 14 years. I am not sure a higher tariff than 10 years would be appropriate. However, I do not consider I should depart from the tariff set by my predecessor so I confirm the tariff of 10 years which is favourable to Roberts.