The seriousness of the use of a knife in armed robbery is not to be regarded as proportionate to the size of the knife; pocket knives are capable of inflicting serious or fatal injuries and their use is regarded with community abhorrence. An attempted armed robbery where the only reason the substantive offence was not completed was the offender's inability to open the till is to be treated as a matter of particular seriousness, not significantly less serious than the completed offence. A sentence at or above the upper range of the Henry guideline (4-5 years) is appropriate where the offender has a prior criminal history of some significance and is subject to an existing recognisance.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 10 later cases that cite this judgment.
6 of the 10 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.