Espionage involving communication of Top Secret classified documents by an intelligence officer to an unauthorised person for sale to a foreign power is a crime of the utmost gravity warranting a starting point of at least 4 years imprisonment under the former s 78(1)(b) (maximum 7 years). Mental illness substantially affecting reasoning and judgment may warrant a 50% reduction in sentence but does not preclude a period of actual imprisonment where the objective seriousness of the offence demands it for general deterrence. On a Crown appeal, an appellate court may order an offender returned to custody after release on recognisance where the sentence is so manifestly inadequate that the public interest requires it, though this is a rare and exceptional course.
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