GM had been charged with viewing explicit cartoon indecent images of children, his fourth such offence.  The previous three charges had all resulted in prison sentences ranging from 14 months to 3 years, and his solicitor, barrister and probation officer had all told him that he should expect to go to prison for a fourth time when he was sentenced.

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The maximum sentence was 8 years custody

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Mitigation.org.uk were able to work with GM to establish a very good mitigation.  We looked at the past 12 years and were able to show where he had been let down by the medical authorities.  We were also able to show that previous training courses he had attended were not suitable for him.  We also were able to show that offending was linked to periods of deep depression, where GM wanted to harm himself.  Finally, we persuaded the solicitor to engage an expert who was able to interview GM and wrote a report that showed the judge that this person needed help, not imprisonment.

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The outcome was better than expected. 

 

GM was not sent to prison, did not get a community order and only received a statutory fine.  But he was ordered to work with the Probation Service to get help and support to stop offending again in the future.  As the judge said “now we understand more about what is happening and why prison has not worked, we can all work together to stop this once and for all”

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Good Mitigation can make a difference

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So to summarise the impact of good mitigation in this case, here are two sobering statistics:

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• Outcome with limited mitigation?  3 prison sentences

• Outcome with good mitigation?  Support, help and no prison.

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GM now has a job, is attending suitable courses and is keen to start his own business.  This is only possible because of the outcome he achieved through good mitigation.

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