Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Karim is being sentenced next Thursday.

Had I been free I would have been happy to attend. Unfortunately I have long standing court commitments.

Hopefully someone will be able to attend and report back.

Do you mean Thurs 2 August, i.e. this week. Best to publish full address of court as Lewes court is confusingly over different sites?

I think it is Thursday 9th.

Elizabeth Cairncross, who will be embarking on her retirement from the Headship of Wells Cathedral School as I write, will I am sure feel able, once Karim is sentenced, by able to give her long awaiting public statement.

Hopefully one of our forum regulars will be able to attend in Richard's absence?

JR??

In here it says 9th August:

https://www.cps.gov.uk/south-east/news/ ... l-teachers

LHA wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:56 pm Elizabeth Cairncross, who will be embarking on her retirement from the Headship of Wells Cathedral School as I write, will I am sure feel able, once Karim is sentenced, by able to give her long awaiting public statement.

Hopefully one of our forum regulars will be able to attend in Richard's absence?

JR??

I regret I'm unable to attend.
Age and health issues now mean I am unable to drive anymore so I have to rely on others.

Although I have a manic week I can attend if it would assist and nobody else can make it?

That would be excellent if you could.

There will be nuances lost on non lawyers, and I don't say that to offend.

Great news that we may have an interested party in court.

That is absolutely fine, no problem at all.

VerisonaLaw wrote: ↑Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:05 am That is absolutely fine, no problem at all.

Please don't think that this is a "Teaching your Grand-Mother to suck eggs.............." as you probably already aware, BUT if you intend to take notes it is a good idea to introduce yourself to the Clerk of the Court before the hearing. She will probably want to know what your interest in the case is, and may wish to consult the Judge.

Can one of the forum's legal eagles explain why there has been a gap between Karim's verdict and sentencing when Husband's was fairly soon after his conviction?

Janey Jam-Jar wrote: ↑Wed Aug 08, 2018 1:15 pm Can one of the forum's legal eagles explain why there has been a gap between Karim's verdict and sentencing when Husband's was fairly soon after his conviction?

Over to you Richard.

The honest answer is that I don't know as press reports at the time didn't say why sentencing was adjourned for such a long time but I will do my best to help.

Initially I thought that the judge was going to sentence with Husband and Dobbie if they got convicted, given that their trial was not far away and all three were offending around the same time. It may be that that is the explanation is correct and subsequent events made it impossible, eg the revelation that Dobbie may face further charges.

The other explanation is that the judge ordered the preparation of a probation report. This is normal in the case of people convicted of serious sexual offences as the probation will undertake an assessment of the risk that the offender poses. This is known as a dangerousness assessment.

Normally an offender is automatically released at the halfway point of the sentence. A dangerous offender is at risk of an "extended sentence" which means that that he is not released at the halfway point but will have to wait until he has served two thirds of the total sentence at which point he can apply to the parole board to be released. If the parole board consider the offender to be "safe" he will then be released.

Whether a person is dangerous will be determined by section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. A person will he considered dangerous if he poses a high risk of causing serious harm to a section of society from further specified (in this case sexual) offences committed by him. Burr in his 70s was assessed as still posing a high risk which begs the question of what he has been doing since 1975 and when he has committed any other offences against children in that time.

To head off a finding by the judge that he is dangerous, Karim's legal team may have asked for time to get a psychiatric report with a view to showing he is not a high risk. That seems to me to be another explanation.

I should add that the judge probably took the view that Husband was not a dangerous offender as he was convicted of offences against a single victim 25 years ago with nothing before or since. Karim had multiple victims over a period of years so I would expect him to be found to be dangerous and an extended sentence imposed.

These are the best explanations I can think of. I hope it helps.

Given that the offences pre date the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it will be a difficult exercise for the judge to sentence Karim as the maximum sentence for each individual offence is limited (from memory it is 10 years per offence) so expect some consecutive sentences.

My best guess is a total sentence of 12-14 years imprisonment in total with a period of extended licence of about 5 years.

Anything less than 12 years I will definitely ad the Attorney General to refer to the Court of Appeal. Above that I will see exactly what the judge says in sentencing.

Many thanks for your input yet again Richard.

For any forum members thinking of attending tomorrow, all trials so far have been heard in Court 2 at Hove which is on the ground floor, nearest the entrance. The court room is small with very limited public seating.

Hope this helps. John.