Harsh sentence, is it worth appealing or not?

Question

i pleaded guilty at magistrates and have been sentenced for deception for selling counterfeit goods, should i appeal due to the harsh sentence that i was given which was 200hrs community order and £1500 fine. It was my 1st offence, i was very co-operating, gave mitigation circumstances, i represented myself and believe the sentence was very harsh, even the probation officer said it was very harsh!, do you think the above is fair? is it worth appealing or not?

also now that i have been convicted i am assuming i shall have a criminal record, how and what information is this logged against? - as all that was given to the magistrates is my address and date of birth do they not need my NI no? i did not give this as i did not have it to hand

yes thats correct 1st time i got caught, 1st offence, £500 costs, £1000 fine

Answer 1

You have pleaded guilty and been dealt with for this offence, so you have a criminal record. The police will have assigned you with a CRO (criminal record office) number which will come up every time your personal data are fed into the system. They don't need your NI number.

Nobody here knows the facts of the case. However, the magistrates obviously took a dim view of what you did, as this is very much at the high end of the scale and community service is regarded as a direct alternative to imprisonment. You may appeal against sentence to the Crown Court, but if you are going to do so, then make sure you do it within three weeks of sentence. It is surprising that you had such a high fine as well as a community service order -- are you sure it was a fine, or was it in fact compensation? A compensation order will not normally be interfered with, as it is a means of reimbursing those whom you cheated. However, it might well be that you would have your hours of community service reduced on appeal. Take advice from your solicitor and act on it.

Answer 2

This all depends on the goods and quantity of goods it was that you were convicted of. Get a solicitor, it was silly to represent yourself in the first place, a solicitor knows the law better than you do. And he'll advise you and whether it will be a good idea to appeal against your sentence or not. Don't forget you may think you've been hardly done but another judge may think you got away with it lightly. Magistrates are limited in the type of sentences they can give out, when you appeal it will be before a crown court judge, who can deal more severely with you.

And no, they don't need your NI number to prosecute you or to link back to you.

Get a solicitor.

Answer 3

I think it is worth appealing, but you should instruct solicitors for the appeal. Check to see if you can get Legal Aid for this.

This shows how unreliable the system is, without the NI numbers etc it is quite possible that people with similar names and dates of birth can be confused

Answer 4

Don't forget if you appeal it can go both ways if you cant do time etc they don't need your NI number and it stays on your record for ten years very lucky the jails are full else you would have got 6months

Answer 5

you're incorrect. all of us who's against the loss of life penalty is in certainty announcing that a guy or woman who performs God and makes a decision to take somebody else's existence has extra of a precise to existence than the sufferer he/she killed. it incredibly is thoroughly backwards. besides, why could the not hassle-free-working American taxpayer shell out an common of over $80,000.00 in line with 12 months for each assassin on loss of life Row to maintain them alive? How is that uncomplicated? A killer gets loose room and board, all paid for courtesy of John and Jane Q. Public, for breaking the regulation? that may not justice.

Answer 6

You should be grateful that you weren't sentenced to jail time and call it a day. Perhaps the judge was harsh to teach you a lesson. There is the adage: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. This is appropriate to your situation.

Answer 7

A person who represents themselves in court, has a fool for an client. Even lawyers don't do it. Yes, you will have a criminal record and it will follow you for a long time.

Answer 8

You pleaded guilty, so take the punishment. Feel free to challenge the sentence so long as you do not do so via Legal Aid. The taxpayers have enough to pay for!

Answer 9

It's amazing that you don't say what the counterfeit goods are. That doesn't let us know the extent of your crime to judge for ourselves whether it was harsh or not.

Answer 10

if you do appeal get a solicitor thats why he was harsh in the first place