Court of Appeal reduce sentence in counterfeiting case

Court of appeal reduce sentence in major counterfeiting case by 3 years 8 months

The court of appeal today reduced sentence in a case that was described as a ‘complex investigation that closed one of the biggest counterfeiting operations ever discovered’  by Dective Warren Stephenson of West Yorkshire Police’s crime division.

Jeremy represented Christopher Brooke at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday 18th November 2010 when he pleaded guilty to two counts relating to the prodcution of counterfeit currency that was said to have a possible face value of £3m +. Three other defendants also pleaded guilty.

Brooke was sentenced by HH Judge Hoffman to a sentence of 12 years 2 months for his role in the offences. The Court of Appeal made a substantial reduction in sentence, accepting that Brooke had played a secondary role in the commission of the offence, that he had not been given sufficient credit for his pleas of guilty and that there had been no reduction of the consecutive sentences to reflect the principle of totality.

Lord Justice Jackson substitued a sentence of 8 years 8 months in all, comprising 3 years 6 months for the first offence relating to the production of £350k currency, 5 years for the second count which was a more substantial conspiracy, commited whilst awaiting sentence for the first matter, and a consecutive sentence of 2 months for breach of bail.

The reduction of nearly 4 years custody marked a reduction of approximately one third of the original sentence.

For a full description of the original case and sentencing comments click here.

Originally posted 2011-07-14 00:00:00.